ID :
195485
Mon, 07/18/2011 - 07:24
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195485
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Lee aide forecasts close race in next year's presidential polls
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- Next year's presidential election is expected to be close and the ruling party is doomed to fail if it assumes that former leader Park Geun-hye will maintain her current lead, a close confidant of President Lee Myung-bak warned.
Lee Dong-kwan, special presidential adviser for press affairs, made the remark in an interview with a monthly magazine published Monday, stressing that believing Park will continue to prevail is akin to swallowing "poison" for the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
Park, who lost to President Lee in the race to win the GNP nomination in the previous presidential election, is now considered the front-runner in next year's election. She has long been far ahead of any other opposition aspirants in popularity surveys.
Park's high support ratings, usually above 30 percent compared to her potential opposition hopefuls' ratings of less than 10 percent, have spurred the widespread view that she will become South Korea's first woman president.
But the presidential adviser, considered a right-hand man of Lee, warned against complacency.
"As experts agree, next year's presidential election will be a neck-and-neck race," Lee said in the interview with the Monthly Chosun magazine. "It is not desirable (for the GNP) to draw up election plans based on" the assumption that Park will keep her lead through the election.
The officials stressed that last-minute come-from-behind victories are always possible in South Korean politics and the GNP should have learned a lesson after suffering two upset defeats when former party leader Lee Hoi-chang lost in the 1998 and 2002 presidential elections despite being heavily favored.
The 1998 election was won by former late President Kim Dae-jung and the 2002 race by former late President Roh Moo-hyun. Lee later left the GNP and now heads the minor conservative Liberty Forward Party.
"No one can deny that former leader Park has an overwhelming (lead) and is a valuable asset" of the party, the adviser said. "But she should be able to firmly state that she is a stronger candidate than former candidate Lee Hoi-chang who lost twice in the presidential elections."
The official said that the ruling party should take steps to strengthen Park's competitiveness.
"It is wrong to presume that (Park) will finish first despite being the front-runner so far," he said, adding that the GNP needs to have a "new Park Geun-hye" plan aimed at solidifying her lead.
Lee Dong-kwan, special presidential adviser for press affairs, made the remark in an interview with a monthly magazine published Monday, stressing that believing Park will continue to prevail is akin to swallowing "poison" for the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
Park, who lost to President Lee in the race to win the GNP nomination in the previous presidential election, is now considered the front-runner in next year's election. She has long been far ahead of any other opposition aspirants in popularity surveys.
Park's high support ratings, usually above 30 percent compared to her potential opposition hopefuls' ratings of less than 10 percent, have spurred the widespread view that she will become South Korea's first woman president.
But the presidential adviser, considered a right-hand man of Lee, warned against complacency.
"As experts agree, next year's presidential election will be a neck-and-neck race," Lee said in the interview with the Monthly Chosun magazine. "It is not desirable (for the GNP) to draw up election plans based on" the assumption that Park will keep her lead through the election.
The officials stressed that last-minute come-from-behind victories are always possible in South Korean politics and the GNP should have learned a lesson after suffering two upset defeats when former party leader Lee Hoi-chang lost in the 1998 and 2002 presidential elections despite being heavily favored.
The 1998 election was won by former late President Kim Dae-jung and the 2002 race by former late President Roh Moo-hyun. Lee later left the GNP and now heads the minor conservative Liberty Forward Party.
"No one can deny that former leader Park has an overwhelming (lead) and is a valuable asset" of the party, the adviser said. "But she should be able to firmly state that she is a stronger candidate than former candidate Lee Hoi-chang who lost twice in the presidential elections."
The official said that the ruling party should take steps to strengthen Park's competitiveness.
"It is wrong to presume that (Park) will finish first despite being the front-runner so far," he said, adding that the GNP needs to have a "new Park Geun-hye" plan aimed at solidifying her lead.
