By Jung Min-ho
Winning isn,t always everything, as can be seen in the 2012 presidential election where four minor contenders who had no chance of winning still finished the race.
Independents Kang Ji-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Soon-ja and Park Jong-seon, are predicted to lose heavily as all major exit polls indicate that Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in are leading them by a huge margin.
After overcoming mockery and disdain, all the determined minor candidates could do Wednesday was await the results.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Kang reaffirmed that he would not withdraw saying, “Rumors that I would quit in the middle are completely groundless.”
The 63-year old asked voters to cast ballots solely based on the candidates’ policies, showing confidence in his political road map.
The lawyer, also known as a “guardian of teenagers” for his dedication to preventing juvenile delinquency, entered the race saying he wanted to make the contest a more “policy-oriented” competition.
According to Realmeter, Kang is expected to receive about 0.8 percent of the vote.
Kim So-yeon also held a press conference in Seoul the same day. She said, “The fight for laborers’ rights has just begun,” before wrapping up her grueling campaign, including a controversial scuffle with police on the campaign trail on Saturday.
With a clear aim to improve the work environment for irregular employees, the social activist made her bid for Cheong Wa Dae. Experts predict her support rate will be less than 0.5 percent.
Kim Soon-ja shares similar political visions for workers. The former janitor and the ex-proportional representation candidate of the New Progressive Party vowed to make the country fairer in terms of its treatment of workers, encouraging voters to cast ballots for the “right” candidate to carry that out.
Park Jong-seon, 84, has received attention with his unique pledges such as stopping trade with North Korea and making constitutional reform in pursuit of a “better” country. He chided the two leading candidates for their lavish social welfare pledges without carefully considering the budget.
“I implore voters to choose the right candidate,” Park said on his blog Tuesday.
Unified Progressive Party candidate Lee Jung-hee was the most popular figure among the minor hopefuls but bowed out of the contest Sunday after two televised debates with Park and Moon.