Friday, April 02, 2004
LET THE GAMES BEGIN: ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN THE ROK OFFICIALLY KICKS OFF. And if polls are any indication, the once mighty MDP has faded to almost complete obscurity:
On the Dong-A Ilbo’s commission, Korea Research Center conducted a phone survey of 1,995 voters on April 1, the last day of candidate registration. The Uri Party won 44.4 percent popularity, while the GNP received 20.8 percent support. The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) received five percent, the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) 2.5 percent, and the United Liberal Democrats 1.1 percent.
The support rating for the Uri Party dropped by 2.2 percent from the last survey on March 27 while the GNP showed a four percent rise.
Amid the serious conflict between Chairman Chough Soon-hyung and chief campaigner Choo Mi-ae and withdrawal of 39 candidates from the election race, the MDP, one of the three major competitors at the outset, saw its popularity nosedive. The supporting rate of the MDP fell further behind that of the DLP in the poll since the DLP surpassed the MDP in the survey conducted on March 24.
