Rep. Moon Jae-in took the fourth consecutive win in the main opposition Democratic United Party’s presidential primary for North Chungcheong Province on Thursday, further solidifying his frontrunner status.

The former presidential chief-of-staff won 8,132 ballots or 46.11 percent of the valid votes, according to officials.

He was followed by former party chief Sohn Hak-kyu and former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Doo-kwan, who respectively won 40.3 and 10.9 percent. Rep. Chung Sye-kyun came last with 2.6 percent.

“The fact that I won more support than other senior politicians prove that the people are looking for changes,” the first-term lawmaker said.

Moon came first in the previous votes conducted in Jeju, Ulsan and Gangwon since last weekend despite the controversy over the underdogs’ protest to the mobile voting system.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)