The campaigning period for the early June 3 presidential election is poised to officially begin Monday, as all eyes are on whether liberal presidential front-runner Rep. Lee Jae-myung is able to maintain his strong lead over conservative rival Kim Moon-soo, who cemented the People Power Party's presidential nomination after a political debacle within the party that appeared to have resolved Saturday night.
Presidential candidates and their supporters with permission from election authorities may deliver public speeches using loudspeakers and megaphones in open spaces from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. during the campaign period from Monday until June 2. If loudspeakers are turned off, outdoor campaigning activities can go as late as 11 p.m. Before Monday, candidates' public speeches were allowed, but the use of audio amplification was not permitted.
Lee, 60, will deliver his first public speech of the campaign as an official presidential candidate at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, the same place that was used as the venue to call for former President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment and that symbolizes South Korea's "revolution of lights" in opposition to Yoon's martial law declaration in December, according to the Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday.
Yoon Yeo-joon, a former environment minister considered to be a conservative figure before co-chairing the Democratic Party's election committee, described the June 3 election as "a battle between a force intending to overcome the consequences of the martial law imposition to normalize the country, and a force trying to hold on to power by triggering a national disruption."
Kim, on the other hand, selected a logistics center in Songpa-gu, southeastern Seoul, as the location to launch his campaign activity after midnight.
Unlike the Democratic Party, which launched Lee's campaign team in late April and completed the candidate registration Saturday morning, the People Power Party was instead moving to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the political drama that unfolded over the weekend.
Kim, 73, who had served as labor minister in the Yoon administration, registered himself as the candidate representing the People Power Party on Sunday at 9 a.m. Election authorities' deadline for registration was 6 p.m. the same day.
Later on Sunday, Kim bowed to the party lawmakers at the National Assembly and blasted his liberal rival for "sweet lies" that would eventually saddle the country with debt, leading a "parliamentary dictatorship" and having his party rail against top court justices that found Lee guilty of election law violations.
This came a day after the leadership of the party, which has been in emergency mode after Yoon's impeachment on Dec. 14 last year, disqualified Kim from his candidacy on Saturday at 1 a.m. It then invited former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to join the party at 3:20 a.m Saturday, nominating him as the party's candidate before the break of dawn.
The party's leadership blamed Kim for the collapse of previous talks aimed at a candidacy merger between Kim, who had won the party's primary to be its presidential nominee, and Han, suggesting Kim's withdrawal was the only viable option to unite the conservative bloc.
Kim, who had promised a candidacy merger with Han earlier in the primary, filed an injunction Saturday with a court to nullify the People Power Party's decision to disqualify him, amid accusations that the conservative party had violated election law by nominating Han, who had not officially registered with the party by Friday night.
According to results of an extraordinary vote by all party members Saturday, the People Power Party's decision failed to win majority's support. As a result, Kim was reinstated as the presidential nominee and the party's interim leader, Rep. Kwon Young-se, resigned Saturday night.
Han accepted the outcome that reversed the party's nomination of him as the candidate Sunday morning. In a brief speech, Han promised to help Kim win the election. Han was offered a senior position on Kim's presidential campaign team, but had not responded to that offer as of press time.
In response to the political fiasco, Democratic Party Rep. Kim Min-seok said it "sparked people's distrust of politics," urging Kim to sack the entire party leadership.
According to the election authorities Sunday, seven people were registered as presidential candidates, including Lee, Kim and the minor conservative New Reform Party's Rep. Lee Jun-seok, 40, among others.
In a hypothetical matchup of the three top candidates, according to a Realmeter poll Sunday, Lee Jae-myung was far ahead of the other two with 52.1 percent of support, beating Kim's 31.1 percent and Lee Jun-seok at 6.3 percent.
The National Election Commission will place election posters displaying images of registered candidates at some 80,000 locations nationwide and disseminate election-related materials to households starting Monday. Four televised debates between the candidates will take place, on May 18, May 19, May 23 and May 27.
Any presidential candidate may participate in the May 19 debate. Those who meet certain criteria under the election law — including the two Lees and Kim — are eligible to participate in the other three debates, and their failure to attend could be deemed a violation of the election law.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
