Another landslide victory

Lee Hoi-chang won the Saturday presidential primary in Gyeonggi province, further cementing his lock on the party nomination.

As of Sunday, Mr. Lee has won all 10 primaries held by the opposition party. Mr. Lee only needs 162 votes from the North Chungcheong primary on Tuesday to win outright the candidacy of the Grand National Party, regardless of the outcome of the Seoul primary Thursday.

In the Gyeonggi province primary, Mr. Lee won 2,461 votes, or 71.3 percent of the ballots cast. Lee Bu-young came second with 484 votes, Choe Byung-yul pulled 424 votes and Rhee Shang-hi 81 votes.

After 10 primaries, Lee Hoi-chang has 14,568 votes, or 72.7 percent of the total ballots cast. Mr. Choe is a distant second with 14.3 percent of the ballots.

The voting turnout in Gyeonggi province was 39.8 percent, the lowest of all primaries. Because Mr. Lee's presidential nomination has become almost a sure thing, voting turnouts for this week's two primaries are expected to drop further.

Mr. Lee's landslide victories have assured his nomination, but failed to attract the public's attention, political watchers commented. Compared to the dramatic emergence of Roh Moo-hyun from the ruling Millennium Democratic Party's primaries, the Grand National Party had no successful dark horse candidates.

Although nonmembers were eligible to vote in the primaries, more than 80 percent of the voters were party members. In the Gyeonggi primary, "few nonmembers voted," Representative Kim Moon-soo of the Grand Natinal Party said. The primary candidates, except for Lee Hoi-chang, have claimed that the composition of the electorate heavily favored Mr. Lee.

Most significantly for Mr. Lee, said observers, was that he reignited his popular support in the Gyeongsang provinces, earning 83.6 percent over the vote in North Gyeongsang province and 70.1 percent in South Gyeongsang. Mr. Roh of the ruling party is also from the Gyeongsang region, and had made significant gains there.

Mr. Lee's overpowering victories in the primaries also silenced demands by some in the party that he be replaced, his camp declared.

by Choi Sang-yeon