By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Rep. Kwon Young-ghil, former chairman of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), defeated Rep. Sim Sang-jeong Saturday in a runoff of the party's primary to run for the presidential election in December.
Kwon, 66, won the support of 52.74 percent or 19,109 out of 36,231 eligible votes, followed by Sim, 48, with 47.26 percent or 17,122 votes.
``I will do my best to win the presidential election, and I will make this country a human-oriented one,'' Kwon said.
He pledged again to prevent the ratification of a free trade agreement with the United States and realize free education and a free health care service. ``I will do away with the conservative politics like former French President Francois Mitterrand and become a worker-oriented president like Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,'' he said.
He said he will arrange a massive rally with a million grass-root supporters in November.
Kwon, a former journalist and labor activist, ran in the 1997 and 2002 presidential elections on the ticket of the DLP but only garnered 1.2 percent and 3.9 percent of the votes, respectively.
Sim said that she accepted the outcome and will support Kwon in the presidential election.
The voter turnout stood at 73.59 percent, 4.22 percentage points lower than in the first primary.
In the first primary on Sept. 9, Kwon fell short of garnering support of 50 percent with 49.4 percent while Sim earned 26.1 percent and Rep. Roh Hoe-chan 24.5 percent.
The party's rules required it to hold a runoff between the first and second placed runners if frontrunner did not garner 50 percent of the vote.