▶주메뉴 바로가기

▶본문 바로가기

The Korea Herald
검색폼

THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Economy

[ELECTION] Will Moon clinch resounding victory?

  • PUBLISHED :May 09, 2017 - 11:01
  • UPDATED :May 10, 2017 - 10:02
  • 폰트작게
  • 폰트크게
  • facebook
  • sms
  • print

[THE INVESTOR] While Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea is bidding fair to win the presidential race, the eye of the political audience is fixed on whether he will gather more than 50 percent of the ballots.

Another matter of public interest is whether the nation’s final turnout makes it past the 80 percent mark for the first time in 20 years, reflecting the public’s aspiration for political reforms.



In a survey released by the National Election Commission last Thursday, 87 percent of the respondents said that they would vote for president.

Such voter zeal was also reflected in the highest-ever early voting turnout last week which stood at 26.06 percent.

The election watchdog anticipated that the outcome of the race would take shape at around 2-3 a.m. Wednesday when the ballot count reaches a 70-80 percent level. But should the turnout exceed the 80 percent mark, which indicates an active participation of the progressive-leaning young generation, the timeline could be moved forward to midnight or earlier, according to officials.

The last time that the figure stood in the 80 percent range was back in 1997, when the late former President Kim Dae-jung was elected, upon a total turnout of 80.7 percent.

Leading candidate Moon, whose approval rating mostly lingered in the 30-40 percent range during campaigning period, hopes to achieve a sweeping victory with 50 percent or more.

His underlying intention is to outrun his runner-up rivals -- Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party -- and also to gain momentum upon kicking off his new administration.

But despite Moon’s steady lead in polls, the 50 percent mark is considered a challenging goal, due to a highly-crowded race of 13 candidates which is likely to split votes.

By Bae Hyun-jung/The Korea Herald (tellme@heraldcorp.com)

EDITOR'S PICKS