Presidential candidates Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in, of the ruling and opposition party respectively, registered Sunday as official candidates for the Dec. 19 election.

With the two neck-and-neck in various polls after former independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s withdrawal, they are especially focused on attracting moderate voters.

“I plan to end my political career should I fail to win the people’s trust in this presidential election,” Park said Sunday, announcing her resignation from the party’s proportional representative position.

The fifth-term lawmaker was seen as emphasizing her determination to play an all-or-nothing game as lawmakers are allowed to maintain their elected status, unlike public servants who have to give up their post to run in a presidential election.

Moon followed with his press conference later in the afternoon.

“As the opposition camp’s unified candidate, I have been burdened with the historic responsibility to achieve the change of government,” Moon said in his first public speech since Friday.

The DUP candidate took time to stress his thanks and apologies to Ahn, who dramatically dropped out of the race to end the deadlock in the candidate unification talks.

“I shall never forget Ahn’s tears, which could just as well have been mine, and will win the race by all means,” Moon said.

The first-termer, unlike Park, decided to maintain his lawmaker status.

Both candidates submitted their presidential candidate registration through their delegates at the National Election Commission.

Park and Moon, along with other minor candidates, are to start their 22-day official election campaign period on Tuesday.

With political rookie Ahn out of the picture, the competition has once again become a conventional duel between the conservative and the progressive factions.

“(Park and the Saenuri Party) toned down on the economic democratization and shifted their focus onto national security and growth, which have traditionally been key right-wing issues,” said Kim Hyung-jun, professor of politics at Myongji University.

“Moon, for his part, has turned more progressive than the DUP’s conventional stance in order to differentiate himself from Ahn but is now expected to resume his position in the ideology spectrum.”

The presidential race between Park and Moon also symbolizes the contest of two former administrations, as Park is the daughter of former military ruler Park Chung-hee and Moon the chief-of-staff to former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.

Reflecting the tight competition between the two candidates, public polls also showed conflicting results, though mostly within the margin of error.

In a poll conducted by MBC, Moon outran Park with 41.2 percent to 39.2 percent but a similar poll by SBS showed Park to be in the lead with 43.4 percent over 37.6 percent.

Both polls, however, commonly showed that the number of indecisive voters rose close to the 20 percent level, reflecting the disappointment of the moderate Ahn supporters.

“Only 60-70 percent of Ahn’s support base will shift to the Moon, whereas 10 percent will rather turn to Park and the remaining 20 percent will abstain,” said political commentator Koh Sung-kook.

Competition to win the support of Ahn’s loyal backers is likely to further intensify, with Park’s campaign underscoring DUP’s failure to negotiate the unified candidacy, and Moon highlighting Park’s “outdated” conservativeness.

“Ahn failed to overcome the old political customs of candidate Moon and the DUP,” Park said Saturday, blaming the DUP for Ahn’s resignation.

Moon, on the other hand, stressed the importance of a solid progressive alliance such as by forming a joint election committee with Ahn’s aides.

Meanwhile, police agencies across the nation have set up election situation rooms in an aim to step up their surveillance over possible threats against the candidates.


Presidential election timetable

Timetable

Nov. 26 Candidacy registration ends (6 p.m.)

Nov. 28 State subsidies for partisan candidates distributed

Nov. 27-Dec. 17 Candidates allowed newspaper ads (maximum 70 times)

Nov. 27-Dec. 18 Candidates allowed 60-min TV, radio ads (maximum 30 times)

Dec. 5-10 Overseas voting period

Dec. 10 Finalization of voters’ list

Dec. 11-14 Absentee voting on ships

Dec. 13-14 Absentee voting period

From Dec. 13 Release of hypothetical presidential polls and quotation

in news reports banned

Dec. 19 Election day

Allowed

Eligible voters campaigning via Web, SNS until Dec. 18

Eligible voters volunteering at candidates’ campaigns

Banned

Campaigning through books, entertainment, movies

Delivering night speeches except via broadcasters

Issuing/distributing pamphlets on partisan platforms and policies

Distributing party member recruitment notices

Distributing falsehoods or making slanderous remarks on candidates or their families

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)