Seoul: Lee Jae-myung, former leader of South Korea’s Democratic Party, kept a wide lead in approval ratings among presidential hopefuls for the June 3 election, a survey showed on Thursday.
According to the National Barometer Survey (NBS), Lee led the poll with 41 per cent, marking the first time the figure surpassed the 40 per cent mark in an NBS poll.
Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) came next with 10 per cent, followed by former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon with 8 per cent.
In the same survey, 39 per cent of the respondents favoured the PPP holding on to power, while 50 per cent voted for a regime change.
South Korean Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was not included in the survey amid growing speculations over his possible candidacy, Yonhap news agency reported.
The South Korean government designated June 3 as the date of the next presidential election following the ouster of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The designation was made at a Cabinet meeting four days after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of Yoon over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.
Under the Constitution, the country is required to hold a new election within 60 days after a vacancy arises in the presidency.
The government also designated June 3 as a temporary public holiday.
The National Election Commission began early candidate registration shortly after the Constitutional Court dismissed Yoon last Friday.
Candidates will be required to register by May 11 and the official campaign period will kick off on May 12.
The law also requires a public servant running for President to resign at least 30 days before an election, making May 4 the deadline.
The new President will assume office immediately after the election without a transition team, Yonhap news agency reported.
When former President Park Geun-hye was removed from office on March 10, 2017, the early election was also held exactly 60 days later, on May 9.
Meanwhile, Yoon, who dramatically rose from a top prosecutor to the presidency in about three years, became the nation’s second President to be formally removed from office, with his surprise martial law bid rattling the nation for months and deepening political polarisation.
With the ruling, Yoon, 64, follows in the footsteps of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was ousted in 2017 when the Constitutional Court upheld her impeachment over a corruption scandal.
Before taking the nation’s highest office, Yoon began his career as a prosecutor in 1994, rising through the ranks to lead an investigation team into Park’s corruption scandal that ultimately led to her ouster and subsequent imprisonment.
In 2019, he was appointed as the nation’s top prosecutor under then South Korean President Moon Jae-in but clashed with the administration as he oversaw investigations into family members of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.
Amid mounting pressure from the Moon administration, Yoon stepped down from his post in 2021, only to enter politics shortly after and win the presidential election in 2022 as the candidate for the conservative People Power Party.
Yoon’s term was riddled with conflict, with an uncooperative National Assembly dominated by the main opposition, the Democratic Party. Yoon exercised his presidential veto power against 25 Bills passed by the National Assembly.
Tensions with the DP appeared to reach an extreme in early December as the main Opposition introduced motions to impeach the country’s top auditor and a senior prosecutor, with Yoon declaring martial law on December 3, which ultimately led to his downfall.
(IANS)
