By Chung Min-uck
Rep. Park Geun-hye, presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, is facing a serious setback due to a series of corruption scandals involving her close aides and the rise of rival candidates with less than three months left before election day.
Support ratings for Ahn Cheol-soo, an independent presidential candidate, exceeded those for Park, according to the latest poll, after support for him surged following the announcement of his presidential bid, Wednesday.
The poll conducted by Real Meter, Tuesday and Wednesday, show that Ahn is ahead of Park in a two-way hypothetical race. Ahn’s support rating hit 48.3 percent, up 3.8 percent compared to a previous poll. Park’s rating fell 2.2 percent to 42.5 percent.
Political pundits say the trend is likely to continue, at least for a while.
“Now that there is no more uncertainty about Ahn running for the presidency, undecided and moderate voters are gathering to support the independent candidate,” said Lee Taek-soo, the director of Real Meter. “Such a move is happening especially among people in their 40s. It could be said the ‘convention effect’ is working for Ahn.”
Meanwhile, Park, the conservatives’ favorite presidential hopeful, is hit hard by new corruption scandals and controversy over how she regards the legacy of her late father Park Chung-hee. Such setbacks have enabled opposition candidates to steal the spotlight.
Rep. Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) also moved past the Saenuri contender in a hypothetical head-to-head race after winning the DUP’s presidential ticket last Sunday.
The conservative party candidate earlier vowed to fight corruption after being selected the party’s sole runner for the Dec. 19 presidential election last month.
In line with this, the Saenuri Party expelled two of its members over allegations that they received money in return for offering a proportional representative ticket ahead of the general election in April.
Corruption allegations erupted one after another with those close to Park named as suspects in bribery and money-for-nomination scandals.
Hong Sa-duck, former co-chairman of Park’s primary campaign team and a former six-term lawmaker, is currently accused of receiving illegal political funds from a businessman. Hong voluntarily left the Saenuri Party.
Song Young-sun, a former party lawmaker, also allegedly asked a local businessman for money in exchange for a parliamentary seat. The party swiftly expelled Song in fear that the incident could cause Park serious damage in her presidential bid.
Adding more fuel to the trouble, Rep. Lee Jae-young of the Saenuri Party, another close associate of Park, was also accused of engaging in money-for-votes scheme during his campaign for the April elections on Thursday.
How Park perceives her father’s legacy is another factor hindering her efforts to win the country’s top post.
The daughter of the late general-turned-president Park Chung-hee described past incidents such as the infamous People’s Revolution Party incident in 1975 that led to the execution of eight falsely accused people and the May 16 coup in 1961, conducted by her father, as inevitable and must be viewed in context of history.
People here have divided opinions. People aged below 50 have negative views about these incidents that took place under late Park Chung-hee’s authoritarian rule.
“The standard mindset should be based on average people in their 40s,” said a Saenuri lawmaker on condition of anonymity. “There is a problem when people in their 40s say they don’t understand Park Geun-hye’s historical views.”