Ex-PM Lee Nak-yon facing huge loss to DP incumbent in Gwangsan-B

Democratic Party incumbent candidate Min Hyung-bae, left, and Saemirae Party leader Lee Nak-yon during their campaigns for a parliamentary seat in Gwangsan-B District in Gwangju. [YONHAP]

Incumbent Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Min Hyung-bae is expected to clinch a landslide victory over his rival, Lee Nak-yon, leader of Saemirae Party, for Gwangsan-B District in Gwangju as of 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Min had 75.47 percent of votes counted as of 10 p.m. Wednesday, with Lee lagging behind with 14.51 percent. The vote count stood at 29.85 percent.

Voter turnout in Gwangsan District, which includes electoral districts Gwangsan-A and B, stood at 67 percent with 217,646 ballots cast.

With exit polls expecting Lee to be outrun by Min by a substantial margin, the loss may jeopardize Lee’s political future.

Lee, a former prime minister under the Moon Jae-in administration, is one of the most prominent antagonists of DP leader Lee Jae-myung on the left. Lee broke from the party to found the Saemirae Party in February.

Min, a journalist-turned-politician, won the 2020 general election in Gwangsan-B District. He served as the district mayor of Gwangsan District from 2010 to 2018.

According to joint exit poll results released by the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS after the polls closed, Min was projected to take the race by a whopping 55-percentage-point margin with 72.5 percent against Lee’s 17.4 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 SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]