South Korea’s presidential election campaign officially launched on the 12th, 7 candidates on this start a 22-day campaign. Lee Jae-myung jong-eun, the candidate of the country’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, and a front-runner in the polls, was named as the No. 1 candidate, while his main rival, Kim Man-soo of the ruling National Strength Party, was the No. 2 candidate.
Lee Jae-myung campaigned for the presidential election in Seoul on May 12. Xinhua News Agency (photos taken in full)
South Korea’s 21st presidential election is scheduled for June 3, and candidate registration closed May 11. According to the relevant laws in South Korea, the numbering order of presidential candidates is determined by the number of seats their political parties have in the National Assembly. The candidate of the party with the largest number of seats is No. 1. Thus, no. 1 candidate for Lee Jae-Myung, no. 2 candidate for Kim Moon-soo, both the pattern of the battle began to emerge.
Candidate No. 3 was left vacant by the second-largest opposition party, the Motherland Renewal Party, which has endorsed Lee Jae-myung. The no. 4 candidate is Li Junxi from the reform new party, and the Nos. 5-8 are the candidates of two small political parties and two independent candidates.
Lee Jae-myung on the 12th in Seoul held a ceremony to launch canvassing activities, and then went to Gyeonggi Province Seongnam and other places to appeal for voter support. Kim Moon-soo opened his campaign in a market south of Seoul in the early hours of the morning and headed to Daegu, the Conservative stronghold, in the evening. Lee chose South Jeolla Province as his first stop.
There had been speculation that Lee, a former leader of the national strength party, might join forces with Kim Moon-soo to put forward a single candidate, adding to the uncertainty in the presidential election. However, Lee jun-suk held a press conference in Parliament on the 12th that will not co-operate with Kim Moon-soo.
During the campaign period, presidential candidates can make speeches in public places from 7:00 to 23:00 every day, and their campaign teams can distribute leaflets and other information to the public. In addition, the presidential candidates will participate in 4 televised debates, scheduled for this month, 18,19,23 and 27.
South Korea’s acting president, Vice Premier in charge of social affairs and Minister of Education Lee Joo-ho chaired a meeting at the central government office building in Seoul on the 12th, to discuss with the heads of departments the preparations for the presidential election and the support programme. He called on all ministries to take measures to ensure fair and transparent elections. According to him, the government will deal with the principle of zero tolerance undermine the integrity of the election, obstructing the reasonable choice of voters illegal behavior.
The day before, Li asked the police to mobilize all available resources to provide the highest level of security for presidential candidates during the campaign.