By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Han Myeong-sook, the female presidential contender of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP), withdrew from its primary race Friday and declared her support for former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.
Former Prime Minister Han told a news conference in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, that she quit the race to help Lee. Both Han, 63, and Lee, 55, are loyalists to President Roh Moo-hyun. Another Roh loyalist, Rhyu Si-min, 48, former minister of health and welfare, is also competing in the UNDP race slated for Oct. 15.
Political analysts said it is too early to predict what impact Han's support for Lee will have on the nomination race as many factors could come into play in the competition.
Some said Han's withdrawal could lead Lee to join the top tier in the primary along with former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, 60, and former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, 54.
Lee is one of Roh's most trusted politicians and backed by the President, party sources said.
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has selected former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, 65, as its standard-bearer to run in the Dec. 19 presidential election.
In a preliminary in early September, Sohn won support of 24.75 percent, 0.29 percentage points more than that of Chung's 24.46 percent.
Although Lee was a distant third in the preliminary, experts said, he still has a chance to win the race as the combined score of Lee and Han is 23.79 percent.
Latest opinion polls said Sohn is the frontrunner among the contenders, followed by Chung and Lee.
A recent JoongAng Ilbo newspaper poll said Sohn's nationwide support stood at 9.9 percent, followed by Chung with 6.2 percent and Lee, 3.8 percent.
Although Sohn's rate was ahead of Chung, their scores in the preliminary were too close to call.
Party sources said it remains to be seen whether Lee and another Roh loyalist, Rhyu Si-min, will make a compromise before the primary.
Rhyu said he needs more time to figure out if he has the potential to win the single candidacy.
Lee and Han used opinion poll results as criteria for their decision.
Their two camps conducted a survey of 3,000 citizens between Sept. 12 and 13, and the poll found Lee ahead of Han by 10 percentage points.