GNP’s Na tops in poll for Seoul mayor race

Politics

Published: 08 Sep. 2011, 00:45

GNP’s Na tops in poll for Seoul mayor race

Park Won-soon, who is running for Seoul mayor, prepares to give a eulogy at the memorial service for Lee So-sun, the mother of one of the nation’s most notable labor activists, Jeon Tae-il, who killed himself in 1970 by self-immolation to protest brutal working conditions in Korea, at the Jeon Tae-il Bridge over Cheonggye Stream, central Seoul, yesterday. Lee, 82, died of natural causes on Sept. 3. Park is a well-known liberal activist and executive director of the Hope Institute. [NEWSIS]

The dynamics of next month’s Seoul mayoral by-election changed swiftly yesterday as Grand National Representative Na Kyung-won rose quickly in an opinion poll after political outsider Ahn Cheol-soo decided to skip the race.

Ahn, founder of anti-virus software developer AhnLab, declared his intention Tuesday to stay out of the Oct. 26 election, and threw his support to his friend Park Won-soon, a liberal lawyer and civic activist.

The development quickly changed the landscape of the election because Ahn had led all other contenders by a wide margin, with 39.5 percent support in a JoongAng Ilbo and Gallup Korea poll conducted Saturday. Na was a distant second with 13 percent, while Park got a mere 3 percent support in the poll.

After Ahn announced he wouldn’t run, a new survey was taken on Tuesday. According to Realmeter’s simulation of a two-way race between Park and Na, the GNP lawmaker led within the margin of error.

Na was backed by 41.7 percent, while Park was backed by 37.3 percent. The margin of error of the poll was 3.1 percentage points.

Park has made public his bid for City Hall, but Na has yet to declare. Other GNP leaders are still searching for a political heavyweight with impressive experience in administration to contrast with Park, a founding member of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, one of the country’s largest civic groups.

The poll also showed that Na would still be in the lead if the opposition liberals chose Han Myeong-sook, former prime minister during the Roh Moo-hyun administration and the DP’s losing Seoul mayoral candidate in 2010, as their unified candidate instead of Park. Na was backed by 44.7 percent, while Han received 38.3 percent in the two-way match simulation.

Han has not declared her candidacy. She said earlier that her decision will be announced by tomorrow.

In a simulation of a race with multiple candidates, Na was backed by 27.2 percent, while Han came in second with 15.3 percent. Park received 14 percent.

The Democratic Party continued its moves to unite the liberals against the conservative GNP. While DP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu said the party’s door is open for all liberal candidates to join a primary, Park said yesterday that he has no intention of joining it.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]

구상찬 “몸 던져달라” 김황식 “제가 능력이 … ”

안철수 서울대 융합과학기술대학원장의 불출마 선언 이후 박원순 변호사(희망제작소 상임이사)도 뜨고 있다. 지난 3일만 해도 중앙일보 여론조사에서 나경원 최고위원은 41.2%, 박 변호사는 28.9%로 12.3%포인트 차이가 났으나 CBS 여론조사 등에선 오차 범위까지 격차가 좁혀졌다. 불과 사흘 만이다. 안 원장의 지지층이 박 변호사에게로 이동하고 있어 박 변호사가 선두로 부상하는 건 시간문제라는 관측도 나왔다.

　그래서 한나라당에선 외부인사 영입론도 거세지고 있다. 7일 국회에선 구상찬(강서갑)·홍정욱(노원병) 의원이 본회의에 참석한 뒤 돌아가려던 김황식 국무총리를 붙들었다.

두 의원은 “서울 지역 의원들 중 상당수가 총리님의 시장선거 출마를 희망합니다. ‘안 된다’고만 하지 말고 당을 위해 몸을 던져주세요”라고 요청하기도 했다. 이에 김 총리는 “제가 능력이 되겠습니까”라고 반문하며 두 의원의 제안을 고사했다. 이어 구 의원은 정두언·정태근 의원 등 다른 서울 지역 의원들에게 김 총리에게 출마를 제안했다는 사실을 알렸다. 이들 의원은 “잘했다”는 반응을 보였다고 한다. 친박계인 이혜훈 제1사무부총장도 “시민단체 출신 인사와 각을 세우려면 행정 능력이 검증된 경륜 있는 인사가 바람직하다”고 말했다.

　박 변호사는 이날 고(故) 이소선 여사 노제에 참석하는 등 본격 행보를 시작했다. 덥수룩했던 수염을 깎고 나타난 박 변호사는 기자들에게 “추석 이후 공식 출마 선언을 하게 될 것”이라고 밝혔다. 그러나 민주당 입당 가능성에 대해선 “결정된 것이 전혀 없지만 상황이 여러 가지로 바뀔 수 있다. 민주당은 서울시 의회의 70~80%를 점하는 주요 정당이고 정통 야당으로서 힘도 무시할 수 없다”고 말했다.