Hong Joon-pyo challenges Moon's dominance

Hong Joon-pyo, presidential candidate of the conservative Liberty Korea Party, smiles as he leaves a meeting with religious figures near the party’s office near the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

Hong Joon-pyo, the presidential candidate of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), is fast rallying support from conservative voters and becoming a serious challenger to Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), according to the latest polls, Tuesday.

In final polling before surveys are banned from being made public, Wednesday, ahead of the May 9 election, Hong virtually closed the gap with Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party.

The surveys were taken before Tuesday, so the defections of 14 Bareun Party lawmakers to the LKP were not reflected in the results.

Under the Election Law, taking new surveys on presidential candidates and sharing the results publicly will be banned starting Wednesday. It will only be allowed to cite the poll results released before Wednesday up to the May 9 presidential election.

Given the circumstances, the voters will have to guess whether the defection of the Bareun Party legislators will raise the popularity of Hong by absorbing Yoo Seong-min’s supporters.

Yoo Seong-min, presidential candidate of the Bareun Party, hangs his head after receiving reporters’ questions about defections of 14 of 32 Bareun Party lawmakers to the Liberty Korea Party as he enters his office at the National Assembly, Tuesday. Yoo said their defections are “heartbreaking,” but vowed to finish the presidential race. / Yonhap

In a JoongAng Ilbo poll taken from Sunday to Monday, Hong garnered support of 16.5 percent against Ahn’s 21.8 percent.

Hong’s support rose from 11.7 percent in the previous week, while Ahn’s fell from 29.4 percent.

Frontrunner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) maintained the lead with 39.3 percent in the five-way race involving Yoo and Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party.

Yoo gained 4.9 percent, up from 4.4 percent, trailing behind fourth-placed Sim with 9.2 percent.

A group of lawmakers from the Bareun Party has been pressing Yoo to resign in a bid to help raise Hong’s support and possibly defeat Ahn and even Moon.

In a separate survey taken by Gallup Korea from Sunday to Monday, Hong garnered support of 14.9 percent for third place against Ahn’s 19.1 percent.

Moon carried 37.7 percent, Sim with 8.2 percent and Yoo with 3.6 percent.

Pollster Research & Research said Hong won support of 16.2 percent, trailing second-place Ahn who collected 20.8 percent, in a poll taken from Saturday to Sunday.

Yoo said he will finish the presidential race regardless of the poll results, claiming “They do not precisely reflect public opinion.”

Political sources said each camp of the five presidential candidates is trying to cope with unpredictability.

Some sources warned fake news and malicious rumors may affect the presidential campaign at the last minute.