'Roh Moo-hyun vs Lee Myung-bak Proxy Battle'... Tension Amid Competitive Edge for Wonju's Lee Kwang-jae

Exit Polls in Gangwon-do Show Close Races in 5 out of 8 Locations

Kwangjae Lee, Democratic Party Candidate

According to the exit polls conducted by the three major broadcasters on the 15th for the 21st general election, Gangwon Province showed a neck-and-neck race within the margin of error in 5 out of 8 constituencies.

When the joint exit poll results were announced around 6:15 PM that day, the expressions at each election camp were mixed.

In the Wonju Gap constituency, the campaign of Lee Kwang-jae, the Democratic Party candidate, could not hide their embarrassment as the race was shown to be within the margin of error against Park Jeong-ha of the United Future Party. Lee received 46.3% and Park 43.2%.

Lee's campaign stated, "The early voting was not reflected in the exit polls, so it seems to have come out as a close race," and "We expect to comfortably pull ahead as the counting progresses," trying to remain calm.

This constituency, where Lee broke a 9-year political hiatus to run directly, had attracted great attention early on as a proxy battle between former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak.

At the time of the exit poll announcement, Lee was not at the campaign office. It is known that after voting in the morning, he went to Woljeongsa Temple in Odaesan to recover from the mental and physical strain of the election process.

On the other hand, Park Jeong-ha's campaign of the United Future Party was greatly encouraged by the exit poll results.

Park's side had been trailing by more than 10 percentage points in various opinion polls conducted during the election process.

However, when the exit poll results came out that day, the atmosphere was welcoming with the belief that "we can win."

Park was also not present in the campaign office when the exit poll results were announced.

The campaign expressed confidence, saying, "Since the exit poll shows a close race, we believe we can catch up as the counting proceeds."

The Chuncheon-Cheorwon-Hwacheon-Yanggu Gap constituency (hereafter Chuncheon Gap), which was divided for the first time in 20 years, showed Democratic Party candidate Heo Young (48.7%) slightly ahead of United Future Party candidate Kim Jin-tae (46.2%) in the exit polls, but Heo's side appeared rather tense.

Heo's camp has painful memories of the 2016 20th general election exit polls, where they were ahead but ultimately lost to Kim after the counting process reversed the results.

On the other hand, Kim's camp, which was allowed a lead within the margin of error, appeared calm, saying, "Not once has the exit poll predicted the actual result. We can definitely overturn this."

In Gangneung, Gangwon Province, independent candidate Kwon Seong-dong led with 41.5%, ahead of Democratic Party candidate Kim Gyeong-su, who received 38.6%.