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Park Won-soon emerges strong after Ahn drops bid |
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By Lee Tae-hoon
Park Won-soon, a lawyer and civil activist, has emerged as a dark horse in the upcoming Seoul mayoral race with recent polls showing the 55-year-old maverick ahead of most of his potential rivals.
A survey of 500 conducted Wednesday by pollster Media Research found that he leads 10 potential candidates with support of 19.2 percent, followed by Han Myeong-sook, the country’s first female prime minister, with 18.4 percent.
Rep. Na Kyung-won of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) came third with 18.3 percent, trailed by former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan with 6.23 percent and Public Administration and Security Minister Maeng Hyung-kyu with 4.1 percent.
When asked whom they would vote for if Park faces off against Na in the mayoral by-election slated for Oct. 26, 51 percent of the respondents picked the human-rights lawyer with no party affiliation over the judge-turned-lawmaker of the ruling party.
Rosy prospects were also predicted for Park, who has little experience in politics in another survey carried out Tuesday and Wednesday by Korea Research. It found that if Park competes with Na one-on-one, he would clinch a victory with the support of 49.8 percent, while the latter lags behind with 33.5 percent of support.
The same research also indicated that Park would still prevail even if he competes against both Na and Han. The former prime minister’s support base overlaps with his.
Conversely, in a survey conducted by Real Meter, Na led Park by 42 to 37 percent.
Park has been enjoying a sudden surge of popularity since Ahn Cheol-soo, founder of the country’s leading anti-virus software firm AhnLab, declared Tuesday that he would drop his mayoral bid to back Park instead.
Ahn had commanded a strong lead with around 40 percent support in polls, but said he would not enter the forthcoming race because he believes Park is the ideal figure to assume the post of Seoul mayor.
The support rate for Park hovered at around 5 percent or below until last week, far below Han and Na, both of whom had maintained double-digit support.
Some say Park will benefit as a candidate representing the unified liberal parties, which have recently agreed to form a coalition front against the GNP.
“If Park is selected as the unified candidate of the opposition camp, his popularity will go even higher,” said Kim Mi-hyun, a senior analyst at the Dong Seo Research.
Critics say his popularity is just a bubble waiting to burst, describing the public’s high interest in him reflects a distrust in politics, rather than their approval of the actual amateur politician.
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박원순, 서울시장 지지율 1위로 부상
박원순 희망제작소 상임이사가 8일 안철수 서울대 융합과학기술대학원장과의 단일화 효과에 힘입어 10ㆍ26 서울시장 보궐선거의 유력후보로 부상 했다.
박 상임이사는 조선일보와 미디어리서치 여론조사에서 19.2%의 지지율로 민주당 한명숙 전 총리(18.4%), 한나라당 나경원 최고위원(18.3%)을 오차범위 내에서 누르고 1위에 올랐다.
나 최고위원과의 양자 대결에서는 51.1% 대 32.5%로 크게 앞섰다.
코리아리서치 조사에서 박 상임이사는 19.8%로 한 전 총리(13.2%), 나 최고위원(12.6%)과 상당한 격차를 두고 선두를 달렸다.
양자대결에서도 나 최고위원(33.5%)을 크게 앞선 49.8%의 지지율을 기록했다.
한편, 리얼미터 조사에서는 양자 가상대결구도에서 나경원 41.7%, 박원순 37.3%로 조사됐었다.
박 상임이사는 지난 6일 안 원장과 단일화 합의를 이루며 이른바 `안풍 효과'를 톡톡히 보고 있다.
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leeth@koreatimes.co.kr |
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