Lee Jae-myung tops Gyeonggi governor poll

By Kim Rahn

Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung

Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, a former contender in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s (DPK) primary for the May 9 presidential election, has gained overwhelming support as a possible candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor in next June’s local elections, a poll showed Monday.

According to the poll conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI), 43.1 percent of 1,007 Gyeonggi residents picked the head of the southern Gyeonggi provincial city to manage the entire province.

The second-most-suitable candidate was current governor, Nam Kyung-pil from the minor opposition Bareun Party, who garnered 11.2 percent, while Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the progressive Justice Party, who was her party’s presidential candidate, came in third.

Lee, the two-term mayor since 2010, has gained generally good feedback from Seongnam residents for his expanded welfare programs. He adopted a “youth dividend,” in which residents aged 24 who have lived in Seongnam for more than three years receive 1 million won in vouchers redeemable within the city.

He is planning to adopt more welfare programs, such as free school uniforms. He also made the city pay back a large portion of the debt his predecessors had accrued.

The mayor gained nationwide public awareness and popularity when he ran for the DPK’s primary earlier this year, and he has been recognized as a potential candidate for the Gyeonggi governor job ever since.

In the poll, Lee gained high support from all age groups except for those in their 60s and older, and all occupational groups ranging from blue-collar laborers to office workers, students and housewives.

Although falling behind Lee, the respondents evaluated Nam’s management of the province positively, with 55.9 percent agreeing so.

But Nam’s image has been hurt by his son’s illegalities — his first son was arrested and indicted on illicit drug use earlier this month, and back in 2014 when he was a conscripted soldier he received a suspended jail term for abusing a lower-ranking soldier. Both times, Nam apologized to the public saying he had failed as a father to teach his son how to behave.

Among figures from the major conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP), Rep. Won Yoo-chul topped the poll with support of 8.6 percent as a likely candidate for governor. But 65.4 percent of respondents said the LKP has no suitable candidates.

Among the minor liberal People’s Party as well, Rep. Chun Jung-bae gained 19.6 percent of support from respondents, but another 60.7 percent said they didn’t see any suitable figure from the party.

The KSOI polled 1,007 adults in Gyeonggi Province from Friday to Saturday. It has a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.