2007 South Korean presidential election

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2007 South Korean presidential election
Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg
  2002 19 December 2007 2012  
Turnout63.03% (Decrease2.svg 7.80pp)
  Lee Myung-bak presidential portrait (cropped).jpg Jungdongyoung2007 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Lee Myung-bak Chung Dong-young
Party Grand National New Democratic
Popular vote11,492,3896,174,681
Percentage48.67%26.15%

  Lee Hoi-chang (2010).jpg
Nominee Lee Hoi-chang Moon Kook-hyun
Party Independent Creative Korea
Popular vote3,559,9631,375,498
Percentage15.08%5.83%

2007 Republic of Korea Presidential Election, Municipal-level divisions.svg
2007 Republic of Korea Presidential Election, Provincial-level divisions.svg

President before election

Roh Moo-hyun
Independent

Elected President

Lee Myung-bak
Grand National Party

Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2007. [1] The elections were won by Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party, returning conservatives to the Blue House for the first time in ten years. Lee defeated Grand Unified Democratic New Party nominee Chung Dong-young and independent Lee Hoi-chang by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, the largest since direct elections were reintroduced in 1987. [2] It also marked the first time a president-elect in Korea was under investigation by a prosecutor. [3] Voter turnout was 63%, an all-time low according to the National Election Commission. [4]

Contents

Background

The incumbent in 2007, Roh Moo-hyun. His term expired on 25 February 2008. Roh Moo-hyun presidential portrait.jpg
The incumbent in 2007, Roh Moo-hyun. His term expired on 25 February 2008.

On 28 February 2007 the official census was published, identifying the number of eligible voters, with the electoral rolls compiled and published between 21 and 26 November, before being finalised on 12 December. Pre-registration of candidates began on 23 April, with 25–26 November as the dates to officially register. [5]

Candidates

The elections were a three-way race between the ruling Grand Unified Democratic New Party's Chung Dong-young, opposition Grand National Party's Lee Myung-bak, and conservative independent Lee Hoi-chang. Also in the race but polling less than 10% were former Yuhan Kimberly CEO Moon Kook-hyun and congressman Kwon Young-ghil from Ulsan.

Grand Unified Democratic New primaries

A total of nine candidates ran to be the Grand Unified Democratic New Party presidential candidate;

An opinion poll was conducted on 2,400 eligible voters and 10,000 of those who signed up to vote in the primaries between 3 and 5 September; only the top five candidates were allowed to advance to the full primary elections.

CandidateElectors%Non-Members%Total%
Sohn Hak-kyu 2,20723.42,46026.14,66724.8
Chung Dong-young 2,33924.82,27424.14,61324.5
Lee Hae-chan 1,33914.21,37014.52,70914.4
Rhyu Si-min 1,05711.28569.11,91310.1
Han Myeong-sook 7618.11,01510.81,7769.4
Others1,72518.31,45315.43,17816.9
Total9,4281009,42810018,856100
Source:

Despite qualifying for the full primary vote, Han Myeong-sook withdrew her bid for nomination and endorsed Lee Hae-chan before the primary races began. The primary races counted for 90% of the final result and the opinion poll 10%.

DatesRacesChungSohnLeeRhyuTotal
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
15 September Jeju 3,00332.82,75430.11,86620.41,52816.79,151
Ulsan 2,26234.81,33520.51,54823.81,36220.96,507
16 September Gangwon 2,31131.12,35931.82,75137.17,421
North Chungcheong 6,33452.72,92024.32,76023.012,014
17 September Gwangju 10,84147.67,94834.94,00717.622,796
South Jeolla 15,22446.111,95836.25,81917.633,001
30 September Busan 6,68937.64,50825.36,61437.117,811
South Gyeongsang 4,46134.84,06931.84,27633.412,806
9 OctoberMobile-17,00433.57,64936.56,28530.020,938
11 OctoberMobile-219,28834.621,35938.415,03527.055,682
10–12 October Opinion Poll 21,85044.117,52535.310,21620.649,591
13-14 OctoberMobile-335,84635.541,02340.723,96423.8100,833
14 October North Jeolla 38,07881.36,38713.62,3675.146,832
Daejeon 1,76633.91,46428.11,97437.95,204
South Chungcheong 2,18232.61,61624.12,89543.36,693
Daegu 1,10825.71,53035.51,67738.94,315
North Gyeongsang 1,59833.42,01742.11,17424.54,789
Gyeonggi 13,02540.213,58742.05,76717.832,379
Incheon 3,11741.03,16041.51,33117.57,608
Seoul 20,99749.513,63132.17,80218.442,430
Total216,98443.8168,79934.0110,12822.2495,911

At the UNDP National Convention, held on October 15, 2007, Chung was officially named the party's presidential nominee. [6]

Grand National primaries

Five candidates contested the primaries of the Grand National Party: [7]

Former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu sought to participate, but he later decided to instead run for the UNDP nomination, and failed.

The GNP primary consisted of opinion polling (weighted 20%) and popular vote by pre-registered electors (weighted 80%). The poll and the voting were all conducted on 19 August and the results were announced at the National Convention on 20 August, naming Lee Myung-bak as the official nominee. [8] [9] Because Lee won the race with a slight margin, there was controversy regarding the method primary election used (opinion poll). However, Park Geun-hye conceded her loss to Lee. Park ran again in 2012 and won the primary.

Races Lee Park Won Hong Total
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
Seoul 16,19058.011,11339.83301.22711.027,904
Incheon 3,08949.13,13549.9360.6250.46,285
Gyeonggi 12,77950.012,54349.11610.6880.325,571
Gangwon 1,86643.02,43656.2220.5140.34,338
North Chungcheong 1,82343.32,34355.7260.6160.44,208
South Chungcheong 2,27141.33,17957.8260.5240.45,500
Daejeon 1,27234.12,40464.4401.1180.53,734
North Jeolla 2,14155.31,58140.81112.9391.03,872
South Jeolla 2,69257.01,85239.21332.8481.04,725
Gwangju 1,33857.685336.81044.5261.12,321
North Gyeongsang 4,45546.35,11153.1310.3240.29,621
South Gyeongsang 4,49848.14,74850.8760.8300.39,352
Daegu 2,30531.15,07268.4190.3220.37,418
Busan 5,27347.25,78951.8600.5470.411,169
Ulsan 1,51747.71,63751.4180.6110.33,183
Jeju 70741.885250.41267.470.41,692
Opinion poll16,86851.513,98442.71,0793.37932.432,724
Total81,08449.678,63248.12,3981.51,5030.9163,617

Lee Hoi-chang

1997 and 2002 presidential candidate for GNP, Lee Hoi-chang had announced his candidacy on November 7, 2007 as an independent, not joining GNP primary.

Democratic Labor primary

The primary election of the Democratic Labour Party involved two types of voting;

The total number of party members that were eligible to cast a vote was 50,117. [10]

No candidate received a majority of the votes, so a second round of the presidential primary was scheduled from 10 to 15 September. [11] [ unreliable source? ]

CandidateFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Kwon Young-ghil 19,05349.419,10952.7
Sim Sang-jung 10,06426.117,12247.3
Roh Hoe-chan 9,47824.6
Total38,59510036,231100
Source: Media Today, [12] Hani [13]

First round results by province

DatesRacesKwonSimRohTotal
Aug. 24 Jeju 23437.3%19631.3%19731.4%627
Aug. 25 South Jeolla 91259.8%29119.1%32121.1%1,524
Gwangju 83760.3%21715.6%33424.1%1,388
Aug. 26 North Gyeongsang 58632.3%64835.7%58032.0%1,814
Daegu 44938.4%34229.3%37732.3%1,168
Aug. 29 South Chungcheong 61837.7%48229.4%54032.4%1,640
Daejeon 30739.7%27034.9%19625.4%773
Sep. 1 North Jeolla 1,42956.9%42216.8%66026.3%2,511
Sep. 2 South Gyeongsang 2,68662.9%91121.3%67715.8%4,274
Sep. 3 Busan 1,07648.9%53224.2%59226.9%2,200
Sep. 5 Ulsan 1,40759.8%59925.5%34714.7%2,353
Sep. 7 North Chungcheong 33228.8%49743.1%32328.0%1,152
Sep. 8 Gangwon 49838.2%39230.1%41431.871,304
Sep. 9 Gyeonggi 3,51857.0%1,41522.9%1,24220.1%6,175
Incheon 1,57856.4%66923.9%55319.75%2,800
Seoul 2,57837.5%2,17231.6%2,12230.9%6,872
Abroad 840.0%945.0%315.0%20
Total19,05349.4%10,06426.1%9,47824.6%38,595

Creative Korea primary

Moon Kook-hyun (문국현), former CEO of Yuhan Kimberly (Kimberly-Clark's company in Korea), was elected as the official presidential candidate of the party on 4 November 2007, through mobile voting amongst party members.

ChoiceVotes%
For Moon8,88495.0
Against4685.0
Total9,352100
Source: Polinews

Exit polls

An exit poll was announced at 18:00 on election day, at which point voting had finished. It predicted Lee Myung-bak had won an absolute majority. [14]

CandidatePredictionEstimated %
Lee Myung-bakWinner50.3
Chung Dong-young2nd26.0
Lee Hoi-chang3rd13.5

Results

Result by municipalities Presidential election of South Korea 2007 result by municipal divisions.png
Result by municipalities
CandidatePartyVotes%
Lee Myung-bak Grand National Party 11,492,38948.67
Chung Dong-young Grand Unified Democratic New Party 6,174,68126.15
Lee Hoi-chang Independent3,559,96315.08
Moon Kook-hyun Creative Korea Party 1,375,4985.83
Kwon Young-ghil Democratic Labor Party 712,1213.02
Lee In-je Democratic Party 160,7080.68
Huh Kyung-young Economic Republican Party 96,7560.41
Geum Min Socialist Party 18,2230.08
Chung Kun-moTrue Owner Coalition15,3800.07
Chun KwanChamsaram Society Full True Act7,1610.03
Total23,612,880100.00
Valid votes23,612,88099.49
Invalid/blank votes119,9740.51
Total votes23,732,854100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,653,51863.03
Source: Park & Lee, IFES

By region

Major candidates

Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with at least 1% of the total votes.

Region Lee Myung-bak Chung Dong-young Lee Hoi-chang Moon Kook-hyun Kwon Young-ghil
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
Seoul 2,689,16253.21,237,81224.5596,22611.8358,7817.1116,3442.3
Busan 1,018,71557.9236,70813.5346,31919.794,2855.448,9012.8
Daegu 876,71969.475,9326.0228,19918.150,5144.025,7772.0
Incheon 593,28349.2286,56523.8183,05715.284,8147.042,0693.5
Gwangju 56,8758.6527,58879.822,5203.431,5244.813,5972.1
Daejeon 246,00836.3159,70023.6195,95728.948,1437.117,2072.5
Ulsan 279,89154.070,73613.690,90517.528,6055.543,6078.4
Gyeonggi 2,603,44351.91,181,93623.6670,74213.4354,4927.1144,8302.9
Gangwon 376,00452.0136,66818.9127,10217.642,5525.928,1293.9
North Chungcheong 289,49941.6165,63723.8162,75023.439,8845.725,2853.6
South Chungcheong 313,69334.3192,99921.1304,25933.243,3834.732,1323.5
North Jeolla 86,1499.0777,23681.634,6303.626,5732.818,1391.9
South Jeolla 88,8349.2757,30978.734,7903.631,2893.223,1782.4
North Gyeongsang 1,033,95772.696,8226.8195,52613.747,3453.339,3272.8
South Gyeongsang 843,66255.0189,46312.4329,48621.573,8934.882,6455.4
Jeju 96,49538.781,57032.737,49515.019,4217.810,9544.4
Total11,492,38948.76,174,68126.13,559,96315.11,375,4985.8712,1213.0
Source: National Election Commission

Minor candidates

Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with less than 1% of the total votes.

Region Lee
In-je
Huh
Kyung-young
Geum
Min
Chung
Kun-mo
Chun
Kwan
Seoul 23,21422,4053,5013,013911
Busan 4,5997,3511,198770406
Daegu 1,8473,375727367221
Incheon 7,6125,7691,068797323
Gwangju 7,1181,54728939896
Daejeon 7,2232,356683467204
Ulsan 1,8842,059467271121
Gyeonggi 30,51323,5543,2073,3781,312
Gangwon 6,0855,063849615436
North Chungcheong 7,9653,435759561321
South Chungcheong 22,5923,8141,131934568
North Jeolla 6,5501,777538590270
South Jeolla 23,0742,179743938517
North Gyeongsang 3,8234,6961,458819699
South Gyeongsang 4,9356,0631,2611,310612
Jeju 1,6741,273344152144
Total160,70896,75618,22315,3807,161
Source: National Election Commission

Other information

On April 7, 2011, a National Intelligence Service agent was guilty of investigating Lee Myung-bak's secret real estate-related information before the election. [15]

According to leaked diplomatic cables, Yoo Chong-ha (유종하), the former co-chairman of Lee Myung-bak's presidential election campaign, requested to then American ambassador to South Korea, Alexander Vershbow, to delay the extraction of the main individual of the BBK embezzlement scandal, Christopher Kim (Kim Kyung-joon), to Korea on the request to prevent spreading controversies related to Lee Myung-bak's involvement in the BBK embezzlement scandal during the election season. [16] [17]

References

  1. Schedule of 17th presidential election (Hangul 2002 format)
  2. Lee Myung-bak Elected President by a Landslide Archived 2007-12-21 at the Wayback Machine , The Chosun Ilbo, December 19, 2007. Retrieved on December 20, 2007.
  3. President-Elect Faces Probe, The Korea Times, December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
  4. Kim, Ji-hyun (2007-12-19). "Lee Myung-bak cruises to landslide victory". The Korea Herald .
  5. Timeline (detailed) of 2007 presidential election Archived 2007-09-28 at archive.today (Korean), the NEC, 2007
  6. 대통합민주신당 대선후보 정동영은 누구 (in Korean). 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  7. Asaba, Yūki. "한국에서의 대선후보선출과 정당정치: 제17대 대선을 중심으로." Yamaguchi Prefectural University, 2007, pp. 131–131.
  8. "Lee Myeong-bak beats Park Geun-hye with a narrow margin". Korea JoongAng Daily (in Korean). August 20, 2007.[ dead link ]
  9. Kim Yeon-seok (김연석) (20 August 2007). "Lee Myung-bak wins GNP primary [이명박, 근소한 차 대선후보 확정]" (in Korean). Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  10. First round of results from 3 division will be the dividing point (Korean), The Hankyoreh. Retrieved on August 22, 2007.
  11. Kwon Young-ghil hasn't succeed to gain more than 50% of the vote (Korean), Ohmynews. Retrieved on September 9, 2007.
  12. 권영길 49.4% 득표…심상정 2위 돌풍. Media Today (in Korean). 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  13. 민주노동당 대선후보 권영길 확정 (in Korean). 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  14. Lee Myung-bak cruises to landslide victory The Korea Herald, 17 December 2007
  15. Im (임), Su-jeong (수정) (2011-04-07). "MB 부동산 소문 뒷조사 국정원 직원 징역형 (종합)" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency . Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  16. Choi (최), Min-yeong (민영) (2011-09-03). ""BBK 김경준 송환 미뤄달라" 이명박 후보 측 미국에 요청". The Hankyoreh (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  17. Mun (문), Yong-pil (용필) (2011-09-05). 위키리크스 MB실체 폭로…"사실상 매국" 경악. Newsface (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-12-17.