Candidates woo voters in southeastern region

Ahn Cheol-soo, a former independent presidential candidate, creates a heart shape with his arms during a campaign rally for Moon Jae-in, the Democratic United Party candidate, in Daegu, Friday. (Photo : Yonhap)

With the Dec. 19 presidential election less than a week away, candidates of the ruling and main opposition party visited the nation’s southeastern region ― South Gyeongsang Province and Busan ― Friday to woo voters there as they enter the final stretch of the presidential race.

The area, long regarded as conservative home turf, has emerged as a critical area for the candidates to secure in order to win the upcoming election because voters there have recently showed a change in public sentiment.

In the April general elections, the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) had support of 36.1 percent and 40 percent in Busan and South Gyeongsang, respectively. Latest surveys also show the DUP’s standard-bearer Moon Jae-in’s popularity rate standing at 35 to 40 percent.

The figures are considered high, as in previous elections, liberal candidates running for governmental posts, on average, only managed to gain below 30 percent. In the 2002 presidential election, late president Roh Moo-hyun had support of 29 percent and 27 percent in Busan and South Gyeongsang, respectively.

A DUP official said that Moon is expecting a support rating of over 40 percent in the upcoming polls in the area which could lead him to victory.

Moon also previously chose the area as his first destination when launching his official campaigns last month.

“People in South Gyeongsang Province should help change the regime to the DUP,” said Moon during his campaign trail in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. “Dec. 19 will be judgment day for the Lee Myung-bak administration and I hope the people here will take part in the change.”

Against this backdrop, Park Geun-hye, the candidate of the Saenuri Party, is exerting efforts to guard against her rival’s rising popularity in the area.

“What I am trying to do is to establish a new era that surpasses mere regime change,” said Park while making a speech in front of a crowd in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. “I will establish a new politics by putting the agenda of people’s livelihood at the forefront.”

The Saenuri Party candidate also pledged to develop the province into a “mecca” for the aerospace space industry through establishing related factories and institutions, if elected.

Meanwhile, the latest and last polls conducted before Wednesday showed Park leading her liberal rival by a slim margin.

Of the 15 nationwide polls taken from Sunday through Wednesday, and published before the banning of all election-related surveys, Park was ahead by an average of just 2.7 percentage points, which is within the margin of error.

Despite Park’s slim lead, experts say the outcome is hard to predict due to the relatively higher portion of undecided voters.

According to the National Election Commission, over 20 percent of the 40 million people eligible to cast ballots are estimated to be undecided. <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>