Popular professor overtaken by DUP leading candidate Moon
Professor Ahn Cheol-soo said Tuesday he will announce if he is running in the presidential election after the main opposition Democratic United Party finalizes its candidate.
“Within days after the DUP completes its selection of its presidential candidate, I will prepare an opportunity to announce my position regarding the presidential bid,” the software venture guru said through his spokesman Yoo Min-young.
The DUP is scheduled to pick its nominee this Sunday. If none of the candidates win 50 percent of the vote, a run-off between top two competitors will be conducted on Sept. 23.
The liberal professor’s much-anticipated declaration of his presidential bid would shape up a double-track competition ― between the conservatives and the liberals, and between the candidates of the opposition forces as well, observers said.
“Because it is a clear and shared perception that the opposition forces must align to go up against solid frontrunner Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party, who is enjoying over 40 percent of the support, the direction of the moderate and undecided votes will the key point in the competition between Ahn and DUP’s Moon Jae-in for the single candidacy,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher of polling agency Korea Society Opinion Institute.
Ahn’s remark came as Moon, the DUP’s presidential frontrunner, is finally seeing his political potency rise as he challenges the two-way dominance by Park and Ahn.
In a hypothetical two-way race conducted by research agency Realmeter last Friday and Monday on 1,500 respondents, Moon beat Ahn for the first time by gaining 39.5 percent against the Seoul National University professor’s 37.1 percent.
Although still within the margin of error, the turnaround was significant for the DUP, which is usually snubbed by disappointed progressives and indifferent moderate voters.
Ahn has been reticent about his political ambition aside from his appearance on a television show and the publication of his book “Thoughts of Ahn Cheol-soo” in July.
“Ever since the publication of the book, I have heard broadly from the people on their thoughts. I shared a lot of good views from the people of diverse fields, classes, generations and regions. And now I plan to prepare an occasion where I would report to the people as I have promised,” Yoo quoted Ahn as saying.
Ahn has been listed as a potential presidential candidate ever since he successfully supported independent Park Won-soon, who became Seoul mayor by winning against the major parties’ candidates in October last year.
In a multi-way survey by Realmeter, Ahn still maintains his lead over Moon with 22.7 percent compared to 18.9 percent.
Observers said the rise in Moon’s stake in the race may have forced Ahn to quicken his steps.
“The longer Ahn waits, the higher the Moon’s rating might get, and it may weaken the justification for Ahn to declare his presidential bid (as an alternate liberal candidate), leading Ahn to make a timely move,” Yoon said.
Emerging as a “tertius gaudens” or a rejoicing third party from the on-going conflict between the Saenuri and Ahn over an alleged threat, and buoyed by his consecutive primary wins, Moon is enjoying a gradual rise in popularity polls.
“The moderates that had preferred Ahn may have changed their minds following the tit-for-tat, not to mention the reverse votes cast by the Saenuri supporters who turned even more against Ahn,” Yoon said.
The war-of-words over lawyer Geum Tae-seop’s claim that Jeong Joon-gil, a former communications official for Park, had called him and threatened to expose scandals surrounding Ahn continued with reports of new testimonies.
A cab driver, unidentified, reportedly said that he overheard Jeong make a “threatening” phone call on the morning of Sept. 4.
Jeong had said that he made a friendly phone call to Geum, a fellow Seoul National University graduate, while he was driving to work, to talk about rumors surrounding Ahn.
Geum had denied the two being close friends, saying Jeong had texted him a total of two times since 2010 in an interview with a local media on Monday.
On Sunday, Moon secured his tenth consecutive win in Sejong and South Chungcheong Province, with his accumulated votes reaching over 50 percent, the minimum required-rate to avoid a run-off. Three more ― in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, Gyeonggi Province, and Seoul ― are left for this week.
As Moon may likely experience a further rise in ratings after the primary is over by collecting other DUP votes that had went to his runners-up Sohn Hak-kyu and Kim Doo-kwan, Yoon said it would remain to be seen how successfully Moon continues to reach the moderate voters.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
