[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, who is two days away from the Supreme Court ruling on the 'forced hospitalization of his older brother' case, has set a new high and ranked first in the public opinion poll evaluating the performance of metropolitan governors during the 7th local government term.
Realmeter announced on the 14th that in a survey conducted from the 24th to the 30th of last month targeting 17,000 voters aged 18 and over nationwide (1,000 per metropolitan city and province) (with a 95% confidence level and a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points), Governor Lee recorded 71.2%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous month, ranking first. He started at the lowest with 29.2% in the survey conducted in July 2018, his first month in office, but showed a steady upward trend and was the only one to show a support rate above 70% in this survey.
Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeollanam-do, who had held first place for 13 consecutive months, fell to second place with 68%, down 4.2 percentage points, and Choi Moon-soon, Governor of Gangwon Province, recorded 57%, down 3.5 percentage points, maintaining third place. Fourth place was Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju (55.8%), fifth was Lee Si-jong, Governor of Chungbuk (53.2%), and sixth was Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk (52.4%). For more details, refer to the Realmeter or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission websites.
Governor Lee is facing a Supreme Court ruling on the 16th that will determine his political fate. The political community's focus is on whether the original court ruling, which sentenced Lee to a fine of 3 million won, invalidating his election, will be upheld by the Supreme Court. Lee was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights for ordering the forced hospitalization of his older brother in a psychiatric hospital by the head of a public health center and a psychiatrist in June 2012 during his tenure as Mayor of Seongnam. He is also charged with false statement under the Public Official Election Act for allegedly making false statements before the 2018 local elections, claiming that he never tried to forcibly hospitalize his older brother.
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