elect `Don’t Believe Public Poll Results’
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Independent Lee Hoi-chang downplayed the result of public opinion polls on presidential candidates.
In his campaign in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday, the former chairman of the Grand National Party (GNP) said, ``Do not fully believe poll results.''
Experts in research agencies commonly say that polls run by newspaper companies are all nonsense, Lee said. ``Though I ran for the presidential race from the rear, I began incurring big changes nationwide. I do not lie as a former judge''
His remarks came after some polls showed the conservative Lee handing over the ``runner-up'' position to Chung Dong-young, the candidate of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP).
While frontrunner Lee Myung-bak, the GNP presidential nominee, has been steadily gaining more than 40 percent in public support, Lee ranked second in various polls before December.
Dismissing the possibility of rivalry with Chung for second place, the conservative independent said the issue is whom the majority of voters choose between the two conservatives ― Lee Myung-bak and himself.
``If you vote for Lee Hoi-chang, Lee Hoi-chang becomes president,'' he stressed.
He added voters should disregard the speculation that Chung could win the election in playing both ends against the middle. ``You will be astonished by the ballot counting result next week.''
As a Gimcheon citizen offered Lee a batch of onions as a gift, Lee likened onions to alleged wrongdoings of Lee Myung-bak, saying, ``Like an onion is still onion even after repeated peeling, some candidate's malpractices are being unveiled on and on.''
Kim Jeong-sul, a legal aide to Lee Hoi-chang, has recently met Kim Kyung-joon, a former business partner of the GNP candidate.
Kim Kyung-joon was quoted by the aide, as saying, ``A prosecutor said if I (Kim Kyung-joon) coordinate with the prosecution in working toward establishing Lee Myung-bak's innocence, he will be elected president, and the scenario would also be good for me.
``If you (Kim Kyung-joon) cooperate, you will possibly get the minimum or a suspended sentence,'' the prosecutor was quoted as saying.
Lawyers from both the Lee Hoi-chang and Chung Dong-young camps have continued to claim that the suspect Kim Kyung-joon was allegedly coerced into making statements favorable to Lee in exchange for lighter punishment.
Major polls indicate that support for the independent Lee and liberal Chung hover at around 15-20 percent.