Seoul: The People Power Party (PPP) was set to wrap up its two-day opinion polls Friday concerning the favorable ratings of its presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. This critical polling event comes amid a growing rift within the conservative party just 25 days before the presidential election.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the dispute stems from Kim, a former labor minister, demanding the PPP leadership cease efforts to unify his candidacy with Han, who is running as an independent preliminary presidential candidate. The tension escalated as Kim and Han held their second round of talks Thursday in an attempt to consolidate their candidacies; however, these discussions ended without any agreement.
The upcoming June 3 presidential election aims to select a successor to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, following his failed attempt at martial law. Meanwhile, the PPP remains divided over its position regarding Yoon's removal. The opinion polls are structured to incorporate 50 percent party member votes and 50 percent public opinion polling.
In light of the ongoing discord, Kim has canceled campaign stops in the southeastern cities of Daegu and Busan, opting instead to concentrate on formulating response measures to the PPP leadership's and Han's merger proposals. Since his selection as the presidential candidate, Kim has consistently clashed with the party leadership, who have been advocating for a unified campaign with Han.
Han has maintained that the merger should be concluded by May 11, ensuring that one of them runs as the PPP candidate to prevent a split in conservative votes and effectively oppose Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who currently leads in opinion polls. Han has also stated that he will refrain from registering for the presidential race if no agreement on unifying candidacies is reached with the PPP.
In contrast, Kim has suggested that both he and Han campaign independently for a week, followed by a televised debate and public opinion polls next week to determine the candidacy.