Lee Hoi-chang named GNP nominee after primary win

Lee Hoi-chang of the main opposition Grand National Party on Tuesday won 592 votes, 72.3 percent of the valid ballots, in the party's North Gyeongsang province primary. Mr. Lee has swept all 12 of the primaries, and Tuesday's vote gives him a commanding 72.6 percent of the votes cast since the race kicked off in Incheon on April 13.

Representative Choe Byung-yul is a distant second overall with 14.5 percent of the vote. Representative Lee Bu-young is third with 10.5 percent and Representative Rhee Shang-hi trails with just 2.4 percent. On Tuesday the candidates stayed pretty much true to form, with Mr. Choe winning 18.6 percent of the ballots, followed by Lee Bu-young with 7.3 percent and Mr. Rhee won 15 votes or 1.8 percent. Just over half of the registered voters turned out for the primary.

Lee Hoi-chang's insurmountable lead going into Thursday's final primary in Seoul sets up a face-off with Millennium Democratic Party nominee Roh Moo-hyun in December's presidential election.

Mr. Roh leads Mr. Lee in every major opinion poll by at least 10 percentage points. A survey released by the JoongAng Ilbo on April 15 showed Mr. Roh leading Mr. Lee by 28 points.

But with President Kim Dae-jung's resignation from the ruling party on Monday and his administration rocked by mounting allegations of corruption involving the president's sons, Mr. Lee could easily catch up to Mr. Roh in the polls, political watchers predicted. The opposition party also controls the National Assembly with its 133 seats. The Millennium Democratic Party holds 115 seats, the United Liberal Democrats has 15, and 6 seats are held by independent legislators.

This will be the second presidential bid for Mr. Lee, a former Supreme Court justice. He ran against President Kim Dae-jung in 1997.

by Lee Sang-il