By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Rep. Rhee In-je is considered the favorite presidential nominee of the minor opposition Democratic Party (DP), topping the seventh round of primary elections in three provinces, including Gyeonggi, Saturday.
Rhee, 59, was also expected to win a landslide victory in the eighth and last vote in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province Sunday.
The two areas have more than 230,000 of 300,000 members of the electoral college, so the vote is considered crucial in determining the finalist.
In the overall cumulative tally, Rhee leads the nomination race by a large margin.
He has 16,511 votes or 52.7 percent, followed by former lawmaker Kim Min-seok with 17.6 percent.
If he wins the nomination, Rhee will run for the presidential election for the second time, following the 1997 presidential race.
Political observers, however, say that the DP nominee will have little chance to win the Dec. 19 election unless he joins hands with other parties, especially the United New Democratic Party (UNDP).
The UNDP, de facto successor of the now-defunct governing Uri Party, was launched on Aug. 5 by former members of the Uri Party and some from the DP.
In Saturday's primary elections, Rhee won 4,971 or 71.5 percent of 6,701 eligible votes, followed by Kim Min-seok with 982 votes or 14.7 percent.
The voter turnout stood at mere 9.3 percent, the DP said.
In the overall tally, Shin Kook-hwan placed third with 13.8 percent of support, while Chang Sang, the former chairwoman of the DP, ranked fourth with 5.8 percent.
Rep. Chough Soon-hyung, who dropped out of the primary race on Sept. 30, filed an injunction with authorities to suspend the race Friday, claiming Rhee conducted illegal campaigning.
If the court upholds Chough's appeal, Rhee will likely face a fresh attack over his running.
Rhee passed the state-run bar exam in 1979 and served as a judge in Daejeon.
He started his political career when he was elected to the 13th National Assembly in 1988. He also served as labor minister in 1993 and Gyeonggi governor in 1996.
He unsuccessfully ran in the presidential election in 1997.
Rhee deserted the now-defunct Millennium Democratic Party in 2002 after he lost in its nomination race to Roh Moo-hyun who was elected president.
Then, he joined hands with Lee Hoi-chang, presidential nominee of the Grand National Party (GNP) who was defeated by Roh in the presidential poll in December 2002.
With about two months to go before the presidential election, some contenders of the UNDP suggested fielding a sole candidate with the DP, but it remains uncertain whether or not the two parties can reach an agreement.