Uri Party Leads Polls With 24.1%, GNP Falls to 19.6%


By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter


The pro-government Uri Party has continued to widen its lead over the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), turning the April 15 general elections into a two-party race, a poll showed on Tuesday. The minor opposition Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) lagged with a single-digit approval rating for the first time.

In an opinion survey conducted by Media Research Inc., along with The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, 24.1 percent of the voters said they backed the Uri Party, while about 19.6 percent favored the GNP, currently dominating the unicameral National Assembly. The MDP, which holds the second largest number of seats, was only supported by 8.7 percent of respondents.

The Democratic Labor Party, which aims to earn more than a dozen seats in the legislature, placed a distant fourth with 2.7 percent, followed by the 10-seat United Liberal Democrats with 1.2 percent. About 28.0 percent said they had no favorite party, while 15.6 percent gave no answer.

However, the respondents gave somewhat conflicting answers regarding which party they expect to be the most successful in the upcoming elections. A majority of 51 percent predicted the GNP would keep its status as the largest Assembly force, while 21.3 percent said they believed the Uri Party could garner more seats than any other parties.

Six out of 10 South Koreans evaluated President Roh Moo-hyun’s job performance as ``poor’’ or ``very poor,’’ while only three said the president, sworn in just a year ago, was doing ``well’’ or ``very well.’’ Those surveyed were evenly split over the question of whether or not Roh’s entrance into the Uri Party before elections would be helpful for the party’s campaigning.

The survey also questioned respondents about their benchmark for evaluating candidates. Some 34.3 percent said they would give top priority to the ethical nature of each candidate, reflecting the public enmity toward corrupt politics. About 18.5 percent said they would vote for a candidate who was capable of pushing local development projects, while 17.8 percent answered they would cast ballots for more reform-minded figures.

More than seven out of 10 voters said they would go to the polls on the election day, but almost the same number of people said they did not know enough about the expected candidates running in their own districts.

More than half of the Taegu citizens said they wouldn’t support Rep. Chough Soon-hyung, the MDP chairman who last week gave up his constituency in Seoul and to run in the southeastern city, one of the GNP’s traditional strongholds.

The survey canvassed 1,156 people nationwide Monday, and the margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.