With just nine days to go to the presidential election, South Korea on Sunday began printing ballots, with 13 candidates still in the running.

Liberal standard-bearer Moon Jae-in is leading the crowded race with a double-digit margin, a recent poll showed, while desperate centrist and conservative camps revived the specter of an anti-Moon coalition.


According to the National Election Commission, the ballot paper is 28.5 centimeters in length, the longest for presidential elections so far, reflecting the crowded field of the initial 15 candidates, now reduced to 13.

Two minor contenders have dropped out of the race. Their names, however, will appear on the voting slip with a mark showing they have withdrawn.

“Onboard voting will take place from May 1-4 on a total of 568 vessels and for about 4,090 voters,” the election watchdog said Sunday.

Two-day early voting for those here is to commence Thursday.

Moon of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea seems to be heading toward victory as South Korea’s political pendulum has swung to the left after the shameful scandal and subsequent fall from power of conservative former President Park Geun-hye.

A poll released Sunday by Realmeter put him at 42.6 percent of support, more than double that of second-placed Ahn Cheol-soo and third-placed Hong Joon-pyo.

Ahn of the centrist People’s Party slipped 1.9 percentage points from the previous week to score 20.9 percent of support, while Hong of the conservative Liberty Korea Party saw his support rise by 3.7 percentage points to 16.7 percent.

A lead that wide is usually considered insurmountable at the final stage of a race. But local political watchers are cautious about predicting Moon’s win, as a large chunk of voters still remain undecided amid talks over a possible alliance of the fragmented conservative camps and even the centrist group.

On Sunday, Ahn received a boost in his vision to form a grand coalition that goes beyond traditional divisions of the political left and right.

Kim Chong-in, a seasoned policymaker who defected to the liberal camp after aiding conservative former President Park’s election victory, accepted Ahn’s offer to lead a committee for the envisioned coalition government.

“The ‘coalition government for reform’ (proposed by Ahn) would encompass all political forces,” Kim said, when asked if Hong’s Liberty Korea Party would be considered a coalition partner.

On the possibility of an election alliance among Ahn and two conservative candidates -- Hong and Yoo Seong-min of the conservative splinter Bareun Party, the politician just said, “Politics is the art of possibility.”

Ahn, however, said he does not consider Hong as a potential ally. “I have demanded the candidate renounce his candidacy,” he said.

Hong also showed little interest in Ahn’s vision, claiming the centrist rival would soon be outstripped in polls.

“Ahn and I have different blood. We cannot be mixed,” said the outspoken former governor of South Gyeongsang Province. “Ahn, fearing that he would be outrun (by me), is just trying to rally conservative voters behind him with the proposal.”

The front-runner Moon also dismissed Ahn’s proposal as a short-sighted tactic to win the election.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)