Seoul’s Former Mayor Oh Se-hoon Tops Surveys

Oh Se-hoon, Seoul's former city mayor and main opposition People Power Party (PPP)'s sole candidate, leads the mayoral survey, less than a month prior to the April 7 by-election in choosing the city's next mayor, the poll showed on Tuesday.

The former mayor leads among other major candidates Ahn Cheol-soo, from People's Party (PP), and Park Young-sun, SMEs and startups' former minister and the only candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party of Korea.

In a survey on March 13 and 14 conducted by Realmeter on 1,030 people from Seoul with ages 18 and above, Oh Se-hoon gained 35.6 percent approval rating, 2.3 percent ahead of Park Young-sun, who gained 33.3 percent and Ahn Cheol-soo that received 25.1 percent approval from respondents.

Meanwhile, in a virtual bilateral race between the opposition party and the ruling candidates, the opposition's sole candidate led the poll.

The former mayor Oh enjoys the top spot at 54.5 percent, 17.1 percent ahead of Park. Ahn, on the other hand, was 17.5 percent ahead of her.

In another survey conducted on Saturday by PNR Research to 803 men and women from ages 18 and above Seoul residents, 46.2 percent of respondents choose Oh to vote in a bilateral race against Park.

On the other hand, the two candidates from opposition parties, Oh and Ahn, appear to be willing to join forces.

On Monday, the two opposition candidates made a presentation that details their goals of policy to create for the Seoul government and said that a three-way race is not favorable for the opposition to win. They both vowed to have unified campaigns before March 19.

On Tuesday, Ahn Cheol-soo from People's Party (PP) said that he plans to merge with the People Power Party if he wins the mayoral election after getting an agreement with party members.

Candidates shouldn't be too confident if they top the surveys as the final basis of their support will only show on April 7 by-election in choosing the next mayor.