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United New Democratic Party presidential contender Chung Dong-young waves after voting at Seodaemun-gu office in Seoul on Sunday morning. The UNDP held primary elections at 147 polling stations in eight provinces and cities including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, Daejeon, South Chungcheong Province and North Jeolla Province on Sunday.
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Chung Dong-young has consolidated his position as the United New Democratic Party frontrunner by winning most of the eight provinces and cities where primary elections were held on Sunday. The former unification minister and ex-chairman of the defunct Uri Party won an overwhelming victory in Seoul and North Jeolla Province. According to party officials, Chung won 83.5 percent of votes in his home province of North Jeolla alone and is ahead of second-placer Sohn Hak-kyu by 30,000 votes. He also won all 25 Seoul districts 7,000 votes ahead of Sohn.
Sohn, an ex-Gyeonggi Province governor and until recently the sole candidate with measurable public support, won only Incheon in the metropolitan area by a narrow margin. According to tentative calculations, Chung now has 50,000 accumulated votes more than Sohn. To turn the tide, Sohn must win over 70 percent of votes in mobile phone elections that ended on Sunday, a nigh-impossible task. The results of the phone vote are announced on Monday. In last week¡¯s first and second round of phone votes, Sohn was only 3-4 percent ahead of Chung. And observers predict that since turnout in the 230,000-member electoral college directly managed by the party is low, the number of valid votes will not be enough for Sohn to overtake Chung.
The UNDP will hold a convention to nominate its presidential candidate at the Jangchung Gymnasium on Monday. But the tug-of-war in the ruling camp is set to continue, with Chung saying Sunday he will immediately launch negotiations to put up a single presidential candidate representing all progressive forces with other presidential contenders like the Democratic Party¡¯s Rhee In-je and independent Moon Kook-hyun, the former CEO of Yuhan Kimberly.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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