Ahn Cheol-soo tops poll for being next PPP leader

Dec 06, 2022, 08:10 am

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A poll on the suitability of the next People Power Party (PPP) leader showed Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo with 15.3 percent support while Rep. Kim Ki-hyeon and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn with 9 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively./ Source: AsiaToday

AsiaToday reporter Chun Hyun-bin

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo has been chosen as the most suitable next leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). Rep. Kim Ki-hyeon and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn followed. Commissioned by AsiaToday, survey firm R&Search asked a sample of 1,019 adults across the country from Dec. 1-2: If there were a People Power Party leadership election, which of the candidates would be your preferred choice to be the next leader of the ruling party? 15.3 percent chose Ahn, putting him the most suitable leader. Rep. Kim ranked second with 9 percent and former Prime Minister Hwang third with 8.8 percent. What particularly caught attention is that Hwang, who has been staying out of the political party, was chosen as one of the ‘Big 3’ potential party leaders.

According to the poll result, Ahn is seemingly leading the party leadership race. However, Hwang, who is in the third place, has emerged as a dark horse as he is running after Rep. Kim by only 0.2 percentage point.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun ranked fourth with 4.2 percent, and Rep. Cho Kyung-tae came fifth with 3.5 percent. Other candidates received 17.4 percent, indicating that votes were distributed among several candidates. 34.8 percent of the respondents answered there was ‘no suitable candidate’.

Among conservative respondents, 14.8 percent picked Hwang as the next party leader. This is a 2.4 percentage point difference from Rep. Ahn with 17.2 percent. Rep. Kim achieved 14.4 percent.

The former Prime Minister beat Rep. Kim in Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, collectively known as TK region. The TK region picked Rep. Ahn as the first place with 15.6 percent, but the gap with Hwang (14.2 percent) was only 1.4 percentage point. In this region, Rep. Kim stayed at 11.3 percent, and Hwang’s presence was remarkable.

Among the PPP supporters, Rep. Ahn won 22.3 percent, beating Rep. Kim with 18.4 percent and Hwang with 14.3 percent by a relatively large margin.

“Hwang’s presence is noticeable, but since he is not active, the situation may change depending on how he makes his next step,” said Kim Min-hyun, director of R&Search.

“The situation will shake again if a new figure such as former lawmaker Na Kyung-won emerges,” director Kim said.

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