The main opposition Democratic Party is losing ground in its key stronghold of North Jeolla Province to the specter of a new party led by Ahn Cheol-soo, a recent poll suggested.

The liberal party’s approval rating stood at 38.4 percent, according to the poll published Sunday by local newspaper Jeonbuk Ilbo.

The figure is in sharp contrast with its results in the presidential election in December and parliamentary elections in April 2012, in which the party respectively won 86.3 percent and 51.1 percent of the vote.

The local electorate traditionally associated with former President Kim Dae-jung has been increasingly disgruntled with the DP dominated by loyalists to former President Roh Moo-hyun.

The numbers for the ruling Saenuri Party and the leftist Unified Progressive Party were 16.2 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, while 30.7 percent responded that they supported no political party.

The survey also showed a shift in support in the southwestern region toward Ahn, a former software mogul and independent presidential candidate, as 45.4 percent answered that they would support Ahn if the new lawmaker launched his own party, while only 26.9 percent replied they would back the DP.

In the same poll, 61.3 percent were opposed to the DP-affiliated Governor Kim Wan-ju’s reelection for a third term in the local elections in June 2014.

The survey was conducted on 4,500 residents by political consulting firm Research View on May 26-27, with a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.

By Kwon Bum-joon (bjkwon@heraldcorp.com)