Young politician enjoys big lead in poll for main opposition leadership race

SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old politician with no experience as a lawmaker, was leading his big-name senior rivals by a wide margin in the latest opinion poll for the main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) leadership race, released Friday.

According to the poll conducted on 1,044 adults by R&Search on Tuesday-Wednesday, Lee came in as the most favored candidate for next week's election to pick the new PPP chairman, with 46.7 percent of support.

Former four-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won and incumbent five-term Rep. Joo Ho-young, both of whom served as party floor leader, were lagging far behind, with support ratings of 16.8 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.

The poll, commissioned by Maeil Business Newspaper and its affiliated broadcaster MBN, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

In the primary on May 28, Lee, the youngest-ever contender for the command of the biggest conservative party, won a surprise victory, putting the established senior rivals on edge.

The PPP is slated to pick its new chairman at a party convention next Friday through two votes -- one by party members with a 70 percent weight and the other by private citizens for the remaining 30 percent.

Speaking up on controversial issues, such as the abolition of affirmative action for women, Lee has marked himself as a reform-minded politician, luring young, mostly male, voters to his campaign.

A Harvard graduate, Lee made his political debut in 2011, at the age of 26, joining the emergency leadership committee of the main opposition party, then named the Grand National Party, led by the impeached former President Park Geun-hye at the time.

nyway@yna.co.kr
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