2007 South Korean presidential election

Presidential elections were held in South Korea 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 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 63.0%, an all-time low according to the National Election Commission.[4]

2007 South Korean presidential election
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%
Results by province and city
■ – Lee Myung-bak
■ – Chung Dong-young
■ – Lee Hoi-chang
Result by municipality
■ – Lee Myung-bak
■ – Chung Dong-young
■ – Lee Hoi-chang
President before election

Roh Moo-hyun
Independent

 Elected President

Lee Myung-bak
Grand National

South Korea
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Background

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 United New Democratic 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.

United New Democratic primaries
Further information: United New Democratic Party § Presidential election primary

A total of nine candidates ran to be the United New Democratic 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.

Candidate Electors % Non-Members % Total %
Sohn Hak-kyu2,20723.42,46026.14,66724.8
Chung Dong-young2,33924.82,27424.14,61324.5
Lee Hae-chan1,33914.21,37014.52,70914.4
Rhyu Si-min1,05711.28569.11,91310.1
Han Myeong-sook7618.11,01510.81,7769.4
Others1,72518.31,45315.43,17816.9
Total9,4281009,42810018,856100
Source: Hani

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%.

Dates Races Chung Sohn Lee Rhyu Total
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
15 SeptemberJeju3,00332.82,75430.11,86620.41,52816.79,151
Ulsan2,26234.81,33520.51,54823.81,36220.96,507
16 SeptemberGangwon2,31131.12,35931.82,75137.1––7,421
North Chungcheong6,33452.72,92024.32,76023.0––12,014
17 SeptemberGwangju10,84147.67,94834.94,00717.6––22,796
South Jeolla15,22446.111,95836.25,81917.6––33,001
30 SeptemberBusan6,68937.64,50825.36,61437.1––17,811
South Gyeongsang4,46134.84,06931.84,27633.4––12,806
9 OctoberMobile-17,00433.57,64936.56,28530.0––20,938
11 OctoberMobile-219,28834.621,35938.415,03527.0––55,682
10–12 OctoberOpinion Poll21,85044.117,52535.310,21620.6––49,591
13-14 OctoberMobile-335,84635.541,02340.723,96423.8––100,833
14 OctoberNorth Jeolla38,07881.36,38713.62,3675.1––46,832
Daejeon1,76633.91,46428.11,97437.9––5,204
South Chungcheong2,18232.61,61624.12,89543.3––6,693
Daegu1,10825.71,53035.51,67738.9––4,315
North Gyeongsang1,59833.42,01742.11,17424.5––4,789
Gyeonggi13,02540.213,58742.05,76717.8––32,379
Incheon3,11741.03,16041.51,33117.5––7,608
Seoul20,99749.513,63132.17,80218.4––42,430
Total216,98443.8168,79934.0110,12822.2––495,911

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

Grand National Party 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%
Seoul16,19058.011,11339.83301.22711.027,904
Incheon3,08949.13,13549.9360.6250.46,285
Gyeonggi12,77950.012,54349.11610.6880.325,571
Gangwon1,86643.02,43656.2220.5140.34,338
North Chungcheong1,82343.32,34355.7260.6160.44,208
South Chungcheong2,27141.33,17957.8260.5240.45,500
Daejeon1,27234.12,40464.4401.1180.53,734
North Jeolla2,14155.31,58140.81112.9391.03,872
South Jeolla2,69257.01,85239.21332.8481.04,725
Gwangju1,33857.685336.81044.5261.12,321
North Gyeongsang4,45546.35,11153.1310.3240.29,621
South Gyeongsang4,49848.14,74850.8760.8300.39,352
Daegu2,30531.15,07268.4190.3220.37,418
Busan5,27347.25,78951.8600.5470.411,169
Ulsan1,51747.71,63751.4180.6110.33,183
Jeju70741.885250.41267.470.41,692
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;

  • Online voting: All members of this party can log on to the official homepage to cast their vote. Confirmation process by cell phone is needed.
  • Off-line voting: There are 227 voting stations around the nation. Voters can cast their vote from 09:00 to 22:00

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]

Candidate First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Kwon Young-ghil19,05349.419,10952.7
Sim Sang-jung10,06426.117,12247.3
Roh Hoe-chan9,47824.6
Total38,59510036,231100
Source: Media Today,[12] Hani [13]

First round results by province
Dates Races Kwon Sim Roh Total
Aug. 24 Jeju 234 37.3% 196 31.3% 197 31.4% 627
Aug. 25 South Jeolla 912 59.8% 291 19.1% 321 21.1% 1,524
Gwangju 837 60.3% 217 15.6% 334 24.1% 1,388
Aug. 26 North Gyeongsang 586 32.3% 648 35.7% 580 32.0% 1,814
Daegu 449 38.4% 342 29.3% 377 32.3% 1,168
Aug. 29 South Chungcheong 618 37.7% 482 29.4% 540 32.4% 1,640
Daejeon 307 39.7% 270 34.9% 196 25.4% 773
Sep. 1 North Jeolla 1,429 56.9% 422 16.8% 660 26.3% 2,511
Sep. 2 South Gyeongsang 2,686 62.9% 911 21.3% 677 15.8% 4,274
Sep. 3 Busan 1,076 48.9% 532 24.2% 592 26.9% 2,200
Sep. 5 Ulsan 1,407 59.8% 599 25.5% 347 14.7% 2,353
Sep. 7 North Chungcheong 332 28.8% 497 43.1% 323 28.0% 1,152
Sep. 8 Gangwon 498 38.2% 392 30.1% 414 31.87 1,304
Sep. 9 Gyeonggi 3,518 57.0% 1,415 22.9% 1,242 20.1% 6,175
Incheon 1,578 56.4% 669 23.9% 553 19.75% 2,800
Seoul 2,578 37.5% 2,172 31.6% 2,122 30.9% 6,872
Abroad 8 40.0% 9 45.0% 3 15.0% 20
Total 19,053 49.4% 10,064 26.1% 9,478 24.6% 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.

Choice Votes %
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]

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

Results
 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 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)

By province
regions
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.[15]

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.[16][17][18][19]

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". Joongang Daily (in Korean). August 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. 미디어오늘 (2007-09-09). 권영길 49.4% 득표…심상정 2위 돌풍. 미디어오늘 (in Korean). 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. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  16. "07SEOUL3225, KIM KYUNG-JOON'S EXTRADITION CASE". WikiLeaks. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  17. "US embassy cable - 김경준 송환 사건". wikileaks-kr.org (in Korean). Wiki Leaks Korea. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
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