Ruling party's primary rivals brace for decisive showdown in Honam next week

Lee Nak-yon, left, and Lee Jae-myung / Yonhap

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and his archrival in the ruling party's primary for the 2022 presidential election, Lee Nak-yon, have embarked on campaigning in the key battleground region of “Honam,” where they will face off in two high-stakes votes next week.

Having competed in four electoral regions, including Chungcheong and Gangwon Province, so far, the two Lees are bracing for regional primary votes in the Gwangju-South Jeolla Province and North Jeolla Province regions, together referred to sometimes as Honam, next Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The two-day votes in Honam, taking place at the midpoint of the 11-leg primary race of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), are projected to be a watershed that could make or break front-runner Lee Jae-myung's drive for a clean, early primary victory.

Both the Gyeonggi governor and the ex-DPK leader are betting big on the ongoing traditional holiday of Chuseok as a chance to muster support for the upcoming poll in Honam, an unwavering support base for the liberal party.

The Gyeonggi governor is currently on a four-day campaign trail in the region that started Thursday and has enlisted the help of some 50 fellow DP lawmakers to rally support during the major homecoming holiday.

Having accumulated more than 51 percent of the votes so far, His campaign seeks to nail down the governor's landslide primary lead in the Honam poll in order to win the party's ticket to run in the March 9 presidential election without having to face a run-off vote. The DPK is required to call a run-off vote that will pit the front-runner against the runner-up if none of the contenders wins more than half of the total votes.

With an accumulated 31 percent of the votes, the ex-DPK leader, born and raised in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, is angling to turn the tide in his home region.

Following his campaign near the region's Mount Mudeung set for Sunday, Lee Nak-yon will meet with voters in Honam until Tuesday. In what appears to be a politically-choreographed move aimed at winning over voters there, he also gave up his National Assembly seat after losing the party's first four regional primary votes earlier this month.

Who wins Honam, home to a population of 200,000 paid-up party members, the biggest by region, is highly likely to decide the final outcome of the primary.

Many predict public opinion in the region is still in flux, especially at a time when the Gyeonggi governor is being hit with corruption allegations from opposition lawmakers who charge that while serving as mayor of Seongnam, he gave a “business favor” to a firm owned by a journalist allowing it to join one of the city's lucrative land development projects in the Pangyo area.

The issue is currently emerging as a point of contention as the two Lees and three other DPK presidential contenders ― ex-Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, Reps. Park Yong-jin and Kim Doo-gwan ― are bracing for a TV debate in Gwangju next Thursday.

"Given Honam's tendency to throw support behind a candidate who has a high chance of election victory, (we believe) our camp has more supporters," an official at the Gyeonggi governor's camp told Yonhap News Agency. "But we will continue to rally support right up to the last minute, since public opinion could abruptly change during Chuseok." (Yonhap)