April 23, 2025
SEOUL – The ruling People Power Party on Tuesday announced the four contenders that would advance to the second round of its primary for the June 3 presidential election.
Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, People Power Party Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, former People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon and ex-Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo were shortlisted by the party’s election management committee to continue competing in the primary.
Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, People Power Party Rep. Na Kyung-won and former People Power Party lawmaker Yang Hyang-ja failed to make the cut.
The results were determined using surveys conducted by five polling agencies from Monday to Tuesday, involving a total of 4,000 respondents.
The party kept the support rates for all eight candidates who had competed in the first round classified.
While the names of those who made the cutline were announced by the head of the party’s election management committee Hwang Woo-yea, the former five-term lawmaker stressed that the announcement was made in Korean alphabetical order. It did not reflect the support rate the candidates received in any way, Hwang added.
The second round of the primary, which is the final one before the scheduled May 3 party convention, will involve multiple rounds of televised debates scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Sunday and Monday, People Power Party members will vote for the candidate they think their party should nominate while another public survey is conducted.
The results for the second round of the primary will take the public survey and the votes of the party members equally into account, unlike the first round, which only took the public opinion poll into consideration.
If the results point to a single candidate by early next week, then the primary is projected to wrap up with no further competition. However, if there is a tie between two candidates, the primary is expected to continue into the party convention.
According to a Realmeter poll of all potential presidential candidates released this week, Rep. Lee Jae-myung, former Democratic Party of Korea leader, held a strong lead with 50.2 percent support.
Trailing Lee was Kim Moon-soo with 12.2 percent. Han received 8.5 percent and Hong garnered 7.5 percent. Ahn saw 3.7 percent.
South Korea will hold an early presidential election in 42 days, on June 3, following the Constitutional Court’s decision to remove Yoon from the presidency for violating the law and democratic principles with his martial declaration on Dec. 3.