South Korean presidential election, 2007

Republic of Korea presidential election, 2007
South Korea
19 December 2007

 
Nominee Lee Myung-bak Chung Dong-young Lee Hoi-chang
Party Grand National United New Democratic Independent
Popular vote 11,492,389 6,174,681 3,559,963
Percentage 48.7% 26.1% 15.1%

provinces and cities majority won by

– Lee Myung-bak – Chung Dong-young – Lee Hoi-chang


President before election

Roh Moo-hyun
United New Democratic

Elected President

Lee Myung-bak
Grand National

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
South Korea
Constitution
  • Politics portal

The 17th South Korean presidential election took place on 19 December 2007.[1] The election was 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 United New Democratic Party candidate Chung Dong-young and independent candidate Lee Hoi-chang by the largest margin 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 63.0%, an all-time low according to the National Election Commission.[4]

Official candidates

Candidate[5] Party Affiliated Notes
Chung Dong-young
(정동영)
United New Democratic Party 대통합민주신당
Lee Myung-bak
(이명박)
Grand National Party 한나라당
Kwon Young-ghil
(권영길)
Democratic Labour Party 민주노동당
Lee In-je
(이인제)
Democratic Party 민주당
Sim Dae-pyong
(심대평)
People First Party 국민중심당 withdrawal
Moon Kook-hyun
(문국현)
Creative Korea Party 창조한국당
Chung Kun-mo
(정근모)
True Owner Coalition 참주인 연합
Huh Kyung-young
(허경영)
Economic Republican Party 경제공화당
Chun Hwan
(전환)
New-era Elegant People's Union 새시대 참사람 연합
Geum Min
(금민)
Korea Socialist Party 한국사회당
Lee Soo-sung
(이수성)
People’s Coalition for Unity and Advance 화합과 도약을 위한 국민 연대 withdrawal
Lee Hoi-chang
(이회창)
Independent

Timeline

This list of dates are the major events managed by the NEC (National Election Commission).[6]

Liberal primaries

On this election, there were three liberal parties contested.

UNDP primary

Chung Dong-young was elected as the official candidate of the party on October 14, 2007.

Creative Korea Party primary

Democrats primary

Lee In-je was elected as the official presidential candidate of the party.

Conservative (GNP) primary

GNP primary consisted of opinion polling and popular vote (only party member could participate). The official result was announced on August 20, 2007, at 07:20 GMT, naming Lee Myung-bak the presidential candidate from the Hannara party.[8][9] Because Lee Myung-bak won the race with slight margin, there was controversy regarding the method primary election used(opinion poll). However, Park Geun-hye conceded her lost to Lee Myung-bak. Park Geun-hye declared her presidential candidacy in 2012 presidential election and won the primary.

Candidate Place Opinion Polling Result Electoral Vote Total Count
Lee Myung-bak Nominated 51.54%
(16,868)
49.06%
(64,216)
81,084
49.56%
Park Geun-hye 2nd 42.74%
(13,986)
49.39%
(64,648)
78,632
48.06%
Won Hee-ryong 3rd 3.30%
(1,079)
1.01%
(1,319)
2,398
1.47%
Hong Jun-pyo 4th 2.42%
(793)
0.54
(710)
1,503
0.92%
32,726 130,893 103,118

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.

Progressive (DLP) primary

Voting method

Candidates

1st round

The official results of the first round, as announced on September 9, 2007, at 07:30 GMT, were:

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

Final (2nd) round

As a result, the official presidential candidate of Democratic Labour Party: Kwon Young-ghil.

Exit polls

The Exit poll was announced at 18:00 on election day. (As voting time was over)
It expected Lee Myung-bak's absolute majority.[12]

Candidate Estimated Winner Estimated Percentage
Lee Myung-bak Certain 50.3%
Chung Dong-young 2nd 26.0%
Lee Hoi-chang 3rd 13.5%

Final result

 Summary of the 19 December 2007 South Korean presidential election results
Candidate Party Votes %
Lee Myung-bak Grand National Party 11,492,389 48.7
 
Chung Dong-young United New Democratic Party 6,174,681 26.1
 
Lee Hoi-chang Independent 3,559,963 15.1
 
Moon Kook-hyun Creative Korea Party 1,375,498 5.8
 
Kwon Young-ghil Democratic Labor Party 712,121 3.0
 
Lee In-je Centrist Reformists Democratic Party 160,708 0.7
 
Huh Kyung-young Economic Republican Party 96,756 0.4
 
Geum Min Korea Socialist Party 18,223 0.1
 
Total (turnout 63.0%) 23,732,854 100.0
Source: NEC (National Election Commission)
regions · provinces · cities
Lee Myung-bak
GNP
Chung Dong-young
UNDP
Lee Hoi-chang
Ind
Votes % Votes % Votes %
Sudogwon Seoul 2,689,162 (53.2%) 1,237,812 (24.5%) 596,226 (11.8%)
Incheon 593,283 (49.2%) 286,565 (23.8%) 183,057 (15.2%)
Gyeonggi 2,603,443 (51.9%) 1,181,936 (23.6%) 670,742 (13.4%)
Gangwon 376,004 (52.0%) 136,668 (18.9%) 127,102 (17.6%)
Chungcheong Daejeon 246,008 (36.3%) 159,700 (23.6%) 195,957 (28.9%)
Chungcheongbuk 289,499 (41.6%) 165,637 (23.8%) 162,750 (23.4%)
Chungcheongnam 313,693 (34.3%) 192,999 (21.1%) 304,259 (33.2%)
Honam
Jeolla
Gwangju 56,875 (8.6%) 527,588 (79.8%) 22,520 (3.4%)
Jeollabuk 86,149 (9.0%) 777,236 (81.6%) 34,630 (3.6%)
Jeollanam 88,834 (9.2%) 757,309 (78.7%) 34,790 (3.6%)
Yeongnam
Gyeongsang
Busan 1,018,715 (57.9%) 236,708 (13.5%) 346,319 (19.7%)
Ulsan 279,891 (54.0%) 70,736 (13.6%) 90,905 (17.5%)
Daegu 876,719 (69.4%) 75,932 (6.0%) 228,199 (18.1%)
Gyeongsangbuk 1,033,957 (72.6%) 96,822 (6.8%) 195,526 (13.7%)
Gyeongsangnam 843,662 (55.0%) 189,463 (12.4%) 329,486 (21.5%)
Jeju 96,495 (38.7%) 81,570 (32.7%) 37,495 (15.0%)

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.[13]

According to Wikileaks, 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.[14][15][16][17]

References

  1. Schedule of 17th presidential election (Hangul 2002 format)
  2. Lee Myung-bak Elected President by a Landslide, 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. List of Official Candidates
  6. Timeline (detailed) of 2007 presidential election (Korean), the NEC, 2007
  7. The method of 2007 presidential primary, the executives' committee of Democratic Party. Retrieved on August 29, 2007
  8. "Lee Myeong-bak beats Park Geun-hye with a narrow margin". Joongang Daily (in Korean). August 20, 2007. Archived from the original on November 20, 2007.
  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. Lee Myung-bak cruises to landslide victory The Korea Herald, 17 December 2007
  13. Im (임), Su-jeong (수정) (2011-04-07). "MB 부동산 소문 뒷조사 국정원 직원 징역형 (종합)". Yonhap News (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  14. "07SEOUL3225, KIM KYUNG-JOON'S EXTRADITION CASE". Wikileaks. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  15. "US embassy cable - 김경준 송환 사건" (in Korean). Wiki Leaks Korea. Retrieved 2011-12-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  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). Retrieved 2011-12-17.

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