[Newsmaker] Poll shows opposition Seoul mayoral candidate has commanding lead over his ruling rival

The conservative main opposition People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon is leading his rival from the ruling Democratic Party Park Young-sun by an overwhelming margin of nearly 30 percentage points, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, a week ahead of the election day.

According to the survey conducted on 842 voters in Seoul from Sunday-Monday by Hangil Research, 60.1 percent of the respondents said they will vote for Oh in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election. Only 32.5 percent said they will opt for Park.

Oh's lead over Park was most salient in voters in their 60s and over, with 74.8 percent of the poll's respondents in the age bracket choosing the conservative opposition candidate. Park only got 19.9 percent of the support.

The poll also showed Oh enjoying a solid lead over Park even among voters in their 40s, an age group seen to be more favorable toward the liberal ruling party. Slightly over half of the polled voters in the age bracket chose Oh, while Park mustered 43.9 percent support.

In a related Hangil poll of 811 voters in Busan, the second-largest city, 56.7 percent of the respondents said they will vote for Park Hyung-jun, the Busan mayoral candidate from the opposition party while 34.5 percent opted for ruling party candidate Kim Young-choon. 

The polls, commissioned by Maeil Business Newspaper and MBN, have a 95 percent confidence level, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. (Yonhap)