People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo’s goal of forming a broad conservative coalition for the June 3 presidential election to challenge Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung, the front-runner, faced a gloomy outlook on Tuesday.

Despite Kim’s repeated calls to lure politicians to what he calls an “anti-Lee Jae-myung big tent,” several politicians have either directly or indirectly refused to join forces with the former labor minister in his battle against the main liberal party candidate, who leads the entire field of candidates in the polls.

Kim has specifically mentioned Lee Jun-seok, the presidential candidate of the minor conservative New Reform Party, as the most coveted member in the planned big tent, multiple times.

“I believe (the People Power Party and Lee Jun-seok) must become one,” Kim said in a Monday interview with local broadcaster Channel A. “I don't think candidate Lee Jun-seok will want candidate Lee Jae-myung to be elected.”

However, the 40-year-old politician and former People Power Party chair has expressed unwillingness to join Kim's proposed coalition and drew a firm line as of Tuesday.

“Candidate Kim is likely to form a big tent by partnering up with the (minor far-right) Liberty Unification Party and independent candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn. I’d like to challenge the people who made conspiracy theories against the forces of moderate conservatism and those close to the far-right,” Lee told reporters on the first day of his presidential campaign. “There is no way to secure a majority vote if I hold hands with the People Power Party,” he added.

Observers say that Kim’s failure to convince Lee Jun-seok to join the planned coalition would become a liability for Kim and the People Power Party. According to a poll released Tuesday by Hangil Research, Lee Jun-seok came in at No. 3 with 5.7 percent, trailing behind Kim’s 38.2 percent. Lee Jae-myung came in at No.1 with 49.5 percent. The poll, which involved 1,513 eligible voters aged 18 or older, was conducted from Sunday to Monday.

Besides Lee Jun-seok, Kim has also failed to get major conservative figures including former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, ex-People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon or former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, who recently retired from politics, on his campaign team.

Kim on Sunday asked Han Duck-soo to be his campaign leader, but the former prime minister turned down the offer the following day. Kim’s move followed a tumultuous weekend during which People Power Party leadership attempted to replace Kim with Han Duck-soo as the party’s presidential candidate, but ultimately failed after being voted down by the party members. Prior to Sunday, the former prime minister had performed better than Kim in head-to-head matchups in various polls.

Han Dong-hoon has yet to express willingness to join the People Power Party’s election campaign committee, while Hong Joon-pyo embarked on a Hawaii trip last week after turning down Kim’s offer to head the campaign committee. Hong announced his retirement from politics April 29 after getting eliminated during the party primary.

On the other hand, other heavyweight conservative politicians including People Power Party Reps. Ahn Cheol-soo and Na Kyung-won have hopped on the bandwagon to support Kim as part of his campaign committee. Ahn and Na are currently among the 9 co-chairs of the party's election campaign committee.

A political commentator pointed out that Kim's image as a "far-right" figure to some voters due to his association with firebrand activist and Sarang Jeil Church pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, will serve as a major hurdle for his goal to form a big tent.

"Kim does not appeal to moderate voters due to his ties to Jeon. His failure to appeal to moderate voters will lead to the failure in the formation of the big tent," Park Sang-byeong, a political commentator and professor at Inha University, told The Korea Herald.

Kim co-founded the now-disbanded far-right Liberty Unification Party with Jeon in 2020, which merged with Our Republican Party. He served as the party's chair and eventually became co-chair of its successor Liberty Republican Party around 2020. He was also spotted alongside Jeon in political rallies and events around 2019 and 2020.

"If Lee Jun-seok chooses to unify his candidacy with Kim, then supporters of Lee Jun-seok will likely turn their backs and vote for Lee Jae-myung," he added.