[Newsmaker] Former Seoul mayor far ahead of ruling candidate: poll

Two weeks before the April 7 by-election to choose Seoul’s next mayor, Oh Se-hoon, a former mayor and the sole candidate from the opposition bloc, is far ahead of Park Young-sun, former minister of SMEs and startups and the sole candidate from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, a poll showed Wednesday.

According to a Realmeter survey of 1,042 Seoulites aged 18 or older on March 22 and 23, Oh gained 48.9 percent support and Park stood at 29.2 percent support of respondents in the two-way race.

On Tuesday, Oh was confirmed to represent the opposition bloc after defeating People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo through a public poll.

Oh received overwhelming support from supporters of the People Power Party (93.3 percent), conservatives (76 percent), those aged 60 or older (70.2 percent) and housewives (62.8 percent).

Park received strong support from the Democratic Party’s supporters (88.9 percent). She also got significant support from those in their 40s (53.5 percent) and from liberals (59.5 percent).

Based on the area of residence, Oh outperformed Park in all regions of the city.

Support ratings for political parties in Seoul stood at 32.7 percent for the People Power Party, 23.5 percent for the Democratic Party and 13.43 percent for the People’s Party.

As the most pressing issues for the next Seoul mayor, 41.8 percent of respondents cited “stabilizing the real estate market,” and 27.4 percent pointed to “balanced development of Gangbuk-Gangnam,” which refers to districts located to the north and south of the Han River.

Also, 7.2 percent of respondents cited “environmental and living safety” and 7 percent pointed to “low birthrate and aging policy.”

Among the voters who showed strong willingness to vote in this election, Oh received 52.5 percent of support and Park received 29.6 percent.

In the survey of willingness to vote, 93.6 percent said they would vote, with 77.8 percent of them saying they would “certainly” vote.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)