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| Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, enters a funeral home to attend the funeral of a deceased campaign worker at Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. |
By Kang Seung-woo
The presidential bid of minor opposition People's Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has been overshadowed by a streak of bad luck this week.
On Tuesday, the first day of official campaigning for the March 9 election, two of his campaign workers ― a local campaign chief and a campaign bus driver ― were found dead in a bus, apparently from carbon monoxide poisoning, in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, while a similar case occurred in Wonju, Gangwon Province, leaving one person in critical condition.
The Cheonan bus was equipped with an LED screen and power generator on the exterior and police suspect that carbon monoxide emitted from the equipment may be responsible for their deaths. According to the transportation ministry, Ahn's camp did not get the required approval from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority to install such devices, which may make the party legally subject to punishment.
In the wake of the incidents, Ahn has suspended all his campaign activities and spent the whole day at the victims' funerals held at two different hospitals in Cheonan.
There was additional bad news prior to the tragic deaths. His wife Kim Mi-kyung was hospitalized after contracting COVID-19.
Unlike Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP), both of whom have been troubled by allegations linked to their wives, Ahn has been campaigning alongside his wife, who is a professor at the Seoul National University College of Medicine. Among the three main presidential hopefuls, Ahn was the sole candidate whose wife was free of scandal.
However, she tested positive for COVID-19, Sunday, which forced Ahn to cancel his scheduled in-person press conference for his single candidacy proposal and hold it online instead. The minor party candidate voiced worries about his wife, saying that she has an underlying medical condition.
While making his proposal, Ahn floated the idea of selecting a single candidate based on public opinion polls, but the PPP is skeptical of the format. The two sides had used the same method to pick a single opposition candidate for last April's mayoral by-election in Seoul, between Ahn and Oh Se-hoon.
Ahn's support rate is also falling in recent polls.
Currently, Yoon and Lee are in a tight race in public polls, whereas Ahn is barely receiving double-digit approval, so the PPP has been pressuring Ahn to concede to Yoon. In addition, some PPP officials have referred to the possibility of Ahn voluntarily withdrawing his candidacy.
"Ahn is committed to attending the funeral services, and how to resume campaign activities will be discussed after that," said Choi Jin-seok, chairman of the People's Party election committee. The services are scheduled to be over by Saturday.
Ahn and Yoon met and had a 25-minute conversation during the latter's visit to Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan, where a wake for the deceased campaign chief is being held.
Some speculated that the two candidates may hold direct negotiations on determining a single candidate either this weekend or early next week.
Meanwhile, a survey released on Thursday showed that Yoon was leading Lee 40 percent to 31 percent, outside of the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.
According to a poll by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research that interviewed 1,012 adults from Monday to Wednesday, Yoon gained 5 percentage points from last week, while Lee lost 4 percentage points.
Ahn had 8 percent of the respondents' support, down 1 percentage point from last week.
