The December presidential election is being spiced up by minor league candidates with small but not insignificant approval ratings.

Excluding the major players ― Ahn Cheol-soo, Moon Jae-in and Park Geun-hye ― there are five minor presidential hopefuls so far.

The list includes former public prosecutor and civic activist Kang Ji-won, former chairwoman of the Unified Progressive Party Lee Jung-hee and lawyer Lee Kun-kae.

The probability of one of the minor players winning the election is close to zero, with the most popular minor candidate ― Kang ― gaining less than 4 percent approval in a recent survey.

However, with the latest surveys giving Saenuri’s Park a lead of less than 5 percent over Ahn, Kang and Lee may command some support.

In a survey conducted at the end of last month, Kang had 3.7 percent support, while Lee was chosen by 3.3 percent of the respondents.

Along with Kang and Lee, lawyer Park Chan-jong has thrown his hat into the ring.

While remote from politics in recent years, Park is a former lawmaker who served five terms from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s.

In addition, Park has experience in running a presidential campaign, unlike Kang and Lee who are running for the post for the first time. The outspoken lawyer ran in the 1992 presidential election and gained 6.2 percent of the vote, coming fourth.

The minor players’ impact on the upcoming elections, however, will not be limited to a scenario in which they throw their support behind mainstream candidates.

If they remain independent to the end of the race, they could siphon off support from the big three candidates, which could prove critical in this year’s tightly contested election.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)