Rep. Lee Jae-myung, former presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), won Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province in the latest rounds of voting for the new party leadership Saturday.
The results further raised the possibility of Lee taking the helm of the party, with the final victor to be decided at the national convention set to be held Sunday.
During Saturday’s polls, Lee secured 75.61 percent of the vote carried out in Seoul and 80.21 percent of the vote in Gyeonggi Province, according to the party.
The results brought Lee’s accumulated total to 78.22 percent of all votes cast, followed by Rep. Park Yong-jin with 21.78 percent.
The tally was from voting by DP members who pay party dues, and the voting in Seoul and Gyeonggi was the final rounds of regional voting, which will account for 40 percent of the final leadership decision.
“Thank you for your continued high support. I will do my best until the last moment. I’ve got to feel heavier responsibilities,” Lee told reporters after the voting results came out.
During Sunday’s convention, the votes of party delegates and the results of opinion surveys will be combined to determine the next leader.
Lee, who lost to Yoon Suk-yeol in the presidential election in March, bounced back to win a parliamentary seat in Incheon in June’s local elections.
The DP chair position has been vacant since March after the previous leadership resigned en masse following its loss in the presidential election.
Source: Yonhap News Agency