DP chief Lee Jae-myung in front of former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong in Gyegyang-B bellwether

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, left, and former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong [JOONGANG PHOTO]

The leader of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), Rep. Lee Jae-myung, was in the lead in Incheon’s Gyeyang-B District against former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong as of Wednesday evening.

Lee is leading by 12.17 percentage points with 55.73 percent of votes counted as of 10 p.m. Wednesday. Won has received 43.56 percent, with the vote count standing at 18.20 percent.

The district has been considered a constituency that could greatly impact the country’s political landscape with heavyweight politicians competing in the race. The final voter turnout in Incheon came to 65.3 percent, according to the National Election Commission.

A victory for Lee would secure a second term representing the district, traditionally a liberal stronghold.

The DP leader won the district's by-election in June 2022 with 55.24 percent of the votes following defeat in the presidential election in March of the same year.

Won served as the governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province from 2014 to 2021 and as the land minister from 2022 to 2023.

An exit poll jointly conducted by the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS projected that Lee would win with 56.1 percent to Won’s 43.8 percent.

The poll surveyed 359,750 voters at 1,980 polling stations nationwide as voting was underway, and had a 95-percent confidence interval with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 to 7.4 percentage points.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]