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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Polls open in SKorea election, conservative seen ahead |
| 2007-12-19 |
| Polls opened Wednesday in South Korea's presidential election, with a business-friendly conservative tipped to end a decade of left-leaning rule despite an upcoming fraud investigation. Voting began at 6:00 am (2100 GMT Tuesday), a National Election Commission spokesman said, and will close at 6:00 pm. The result is expected by 10:00 pm. Up to 37.6 million people are eligible to vote at 13,178 polling stations. But the commission predicts a relatively low turnout of below 65 percent because the contest has long been seen as a one-horse race. Lee Myung-Bak, the opposition Grand National Party candidate, was leading his rivals by wide margins when final opinion polls were published last week. Since then, parliament has voted to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate claims he was involved in a 2001 share manipulation scandal. But analysts still expect him to triumph over his closest rivals, Chung Dong-Young of the liberal pro-government United New Democratic Party and rightwing independent Lee Hoi-Chang. A total of 10 candidates are standing but only three have recorded more than single figures in opinion polls. Lee Myung-Bak, a 65-year-old former construction executive and ex-mayor of Seoul, is best trusted by many to reinvigorate the economy -- the key preoccupation of voters. Growth is forecast at close to five percent this year. But there are frequent grumbles about high youth unemployment, an ever-widening income gap and high property and other prices in the world's 13th largest economy. Lee Tuesday promised a "new era" if voters elect him. "Businesses will no longer be reluctant to invest. Consumers will open their purses. Markets will be vitalised. Foreign investors will rush here," he said. However, any victory for him would usher in weeks of political uncertainty as the independent investigation goes ahead. State prosecutors had on December 5 cleared Lee of involvement in the case linked to the now-defunct BBK investment firm and to his detained former business partner. Lee had always said he had nothing to do with the firm. But his opponents on Sunday publicised a video clip of a speech he made in 2000, in which he says he founded BBK. On Monday parliament voted to start the new inquiry. Local media predicted it would report before a new leader takes office on February 25, raising the possibility of a president-elect being interrogated or even indicted. Lee has said he made erroneous comments on the video because he was trying to promote new financial business. On Tuesday he again denied any wrongdoing. "Tens or even hundreds of special investigations would never change the results because there is only one truth," he said. His rival Chung suffers from his past membership of the unpopular Roh Moo-Hyun government and his failure to unite all liberal forces behind his standard. His achievements as a former unification minister in charge of relations with North Korea appear not to have greatly boosted his support. Voters see policy towards their communist neighbour as only a side election issue, according to surveys, because moves to scrap its nuclear programme are making progress. |
| Posted by:Fred |