Ahn's new party neck and neck with NPAD in polls

By Jun Ji-hye

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo

A new political party that independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo plans to launch in February appears to be neck-and-neck with the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) in polls even before its official launch.

A survey by pollster Realmeter Thursday showed Ahn’s envisioned party garnered 19.5 percent support, up from last week’s 16.3 percent. The NPAD earned 21.9 percent, down from 25.7 percent.

The ruling Saenuri Party held the lead, securing 37.8 percent.

Notably, the Honam region, which consists of South and North Jeolla provinces, traditional home turf of the main opposition party, gave more support to Ahn’s party than to the NPAD -- 33.4 percent to 31.7 percent.

Ahn, the former co-leader of the NPAD, which he co-founded in March 2014, quit on Dec. 13 after a power struggle with incumbent Chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in.

Since Ahn’s departure, five lawmakers, including Rep. Lim Nae-hyun, have left the NPAD to join hands with Ahn to create a new party, with a further exodus of lawmakers expected.

In another survey announced by Jowon C&I, also on Thursday, Ahn’s new party emerged as the most popular opposition party, garnering 21.4 percent support after the Saenuri Party’s 33.9 percent. The NPAD ranked third, securing 20.9 percent.

Ahn’s personal popularity also has been increasing since his departure from the NPAD.

In the Realmeter survey that asked who is the most qualified to run for the presidential election in 2017, the software mogul-turned-lawmaker earned a 16.3 percent approval rating to Moon’s 16.6 percent. Ahn’s popularity was up by 2.8 percentage points from a week earlier, while Moon’s decreased by 2.5 percentage points.

Ruling party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung ranked first with 17.6 percent support.

Realmeter analyzed that Ahn successfully attracted attention from centrist voters by promptly announcing his vision and plans to create a new party, while Moon has been blamed for the division in the largest opposition party.

According to a Gallup Korea poll released last week, North and South Jeolla provinces also gave more support to Ahn than they did to Moon -- 48 percent to 27 percent.

With his growing popularity, Ahn is now accelerating his efforts to launch the new party and achieve good results in the 2016 general elections scheduled for April.

Ahn is planning to announce the vision and direction of his party on Sunday.

“I am composing my thoughts that I have had for the past three years and preparing for a news conference to be held on Sunday,” he said. “I will reveal the vision and the direction of the party at this time. Announcing a method to nominate candidates for the general elections will be the next step.”

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