Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

11-26-2007 17:38


http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/11/116_14401.html

Korea to See Weak President

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

Korea may see a weak president who is elected with support of less than 40 percent as the presidential race has become too crowded in an unprecedented way, said political observers.

Pollsters say the presidential race is too crowded and any candidate gaining support of more than 38 percent will be declared the winner. This means that Korea will see a weak president who will be elected with more than 60 percent of voters opposed to him.

For the first time since 1989 when Roh Tae-woo won the election, the winner will get support of less than 40 percent, pollsters predicted. The question is whether the new president can muster broad support to implement his policies.

A key variable is the possible last-minute dropout of major candidates from either the conservative or liberal camps, which will boost support for the winner they predicted.

Even after the presidential election, parties will be divided and could be reborn to prepare for the general elections in April, they said.

With the official presidential campaign starting today, one out of every four voters remaining undecided according to the latest Hanook Ilbo survey, which indicated 24.3 percent have yet to decide who to vote for.

Polls place conservative Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Lee Myung-bak in first place by about 20 percentage points over runner-up Lee Hoi-chang, an independent hardcore conservative.

The number of voters supporting conservative candidates is around 55 percent in the polls, a unique trait in this year's election.

The polls put Lee Myung-baek in the top tier of the race; with former Supreme Court judge, Lee Hoi-chang, and United New Democratic Party (UNDP) candidate Chung Dong-young placed in the second tier.

Despite the support gap among the top three, experts said it is still too early to predict who will win the Dec. 19 election as various factors could shake up the campaign landscape.

The double-digit number of candidates is another feature of the election.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), 12 candidates completed their candidacy registration during the two-day registration period, which ended Monday, up from eight each in 1987 band 2002.

The former Seoul mayor and UNDP Chung completed their registration on Sunday and independent Lee Hoi-chang registered his candidacy on Monday.

The doubled-digit figure is a reflection that both liberals and conservatives failed to unite before the registration and as a result they will split their support as long as all of them run.

Political observers said candidates have focused too much attention on negative campaigns in an effort to boost their popularity and this has resulted in the voters' lack of understanding of their policy visions and pledges.

For the first time, about 600,000 young voters aged 19 will be allowed to participate in the voting.

In a statement, NEC Chairperson Koh Hyung-chul asked voters to participate in the election, and candidates to play by the rules.

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[Bibbitybop]

Too many choices is better than 2 poor-quality choices.

[Milwaukiedave]

I have to agree with BB, this election is going to be a disaster. Koreans seem to care very little who is their president will be.

[thepeel]

Koreans have a tendency to behave as an inspired, emotionally charged collective (winds of popular feeling, as the quote goes). I suspect at the last minute one of the candidates (probably an underdog) will whip up support like did Roh and win 50%+ of the vote. I'm hoping that Lee Myung wins, however.

[Octavius Hite]

The problem is that this election is missing the flare and drama (and racist,xenophobic, hate mongering) the last one had.

Roh won because he capitalized on the Netizen's (or is it Nutizen) fears of the US and the "Tank Girls" incident.

SK is now in Canada/America territory we just elect anybody (and most of us don't even turn out anymore) because there isn't a "super issue". Most Koreans piss and moan about the economy but everyone knows that the days of 7% growth are over now that China, India and Vietnam are players.

So while voters have concerns, not one of the candidates has put forth a platform to address those things. Instead we have a field talking about building rail ferries to China, tunnels to Japan and Korean canal system (I mean what is this 1845??????).

[Milwaukiedave]

I wasn't here for the last election, but was during the impeachment drama in 2004.