Handonghun "Please Come Out to Early Voting Stations"... Aiming to Rally the 'Shy Conservative' Vote

"I will vote tomorrow too... Will strictly monitor the voting"
Leading voters to the polling station is key to judging the chances in battleground areas
Kim Jaeseop "Many more people will go out to vote"

On the day before the early voting day for the 22nd general election, Han Dong-hoon, the Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, pleaded with voters to come out to the early voting stations and cast their ballots. It is observed that he hopes to rally the conservative camp by drawing out the so-called 'shy conservatives' who do not respond to opinion polls.

Handonghun, the General Election Countermeasures Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is making a statement regarding early voting on the 4th at the Central Party Office in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

On the morning of the 4th, Chairman Han held a press conference at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, saying, "All 254 People Power Party candidates in the constituencies will vote on the first day of early voting tomorrow. I will do the same." He added, "Please come out to the early voting stations starting tomorrow." Furthermore, he stated, "I hope law-abiding citizens will show their spirit from early voting by defeating criminals," and "Give the People Power Party the strength to protect livelihoods and revive the economy, and the courage to fight against criminals."

As he began full-scale election campaigning, Chairman Han continued to encourage early voting. At a campaign event on the previous day in Seongseo-dong, Chungju-si, Chungbuk Province, at a 'car-free street,' he said, "According to our analysis of the situation, the People Power Party is narrowly winning or losing in 55 places nationwide," and emphasized, "Early voting will start soon. Please go to the polling stations no matter what."

So far, the conservative camp has shown a negative response to early voting. This is due to an implicit formula that a high voter turnout leads to conservative defeat. Some conservatives have also raised conspiracy theories that early voting can be manipulated. On the 28th of last month, Hong Seok-jun, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Situation Room of the People Power Party Central Election Countermeasures Committee, said, "Some supporters still raise issues about early voting," and "We do not intend to encourage early voting," which is in the same context.

Chairman Han also appeared to block early voting conspiracy theories, considering these points. He said, "Don't pay attention to stories like 'If you early vote, you lose,' or 'If turnout is high, you lose.' Just think that if I vote, we win, and everyone must vote." He added, "Starting from this election, we will strongly promote manual vote counting to visually verify all votes, including early voting. We will thoroughly monitor until the end so that there is no worry."

The People Power Party is analyzed to be encouraging voting to rally the conservative camp, including shy conservatives. It seems they judged that even disappointed voters must be drawn to the polling stations to win in competitive areas. Kim Jae-seop, the People Power Party candidate for Dobong-gu Gap, Seoul, said on June 1st on YTN Radio's 'Shin Yul's News Face-off,' "I think there will be many people who go to vote even if they do not respond to opinion polls," and "There have been many negative issues with the government and ruling party, so some have recently stepped back, but it does not mean they are giving up voting this time."

In fact, it appears that the conservative camp is rallying. According to the 'Voter Awareness Survey' by the Central Election Management Committee on the 28th of last month, 90.8% of those aged 70 and over responded that they will definitely vote in this election. The overall percentage of voters who responded that they will definitely vote was 76.5%. According to a regular opinion poll jointly commissioned by Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV to the polling firm Metrics, conducted via wireless telephone interviews with 1,000 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide on the 30th and 31st of last month, the People Power Party's support among those aged 70 and over was 61%, the highest among age groups.