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| Rep. Sim Sang-jeung | Roh Hoi-chan |
Online voting runs from July 6 to 9 and will be followed by a spot poll on July 10 and a phone ballot the following day.
The party will hold a national convention on July 12 to decide the winner by combining the results of the three votes.
If nobody wins a majority, a runoff election between the two top candidates will take place from July 13 to 18.
The two leading candidates of the four runners are the party's former floor leader Rep. Sim Sang-jeung and former chairman Roh Hoi-chan.
The other two minor candidates are Roh Hang-rae, former chairman of the party's policy committee, and Cho Sung-joo, former director of the Youth Community Union's policy planning team.
The candidates wrapped 16-days of campaigning Sunday with joint canvassing at Seongdong-gu, Seoul.
The election is drawing keen attention because the new chairperson will play a leading role in unifying liberal forces.
The Justice Party is planning to form an alliance with three progressive groups including the Labor Party in preparation for the 2016 general elections.
The plan for alliance comes amid a crisis in progressive forces after the Constitutional Court ruled in December to disband the Unified Progressive Party and strip its five lawmakers of their parliamentary seats for sympathizing with North Korea.
A runoff election is highly likely because the four candidates have been locked into a bitter contest. Observers say it would be hard for a candidate to win a majority of the votes during the first round of the elections.
Former chairman Roh has vowed to lead a change in the liberal bloc and establish dramatic measures to win the general election.
Rep. Sim has been coming up with slogans such as a "competent party in economic policy," "the party with passionate roots," and "the party for youth and women."
Cho emphasized that he will bring a new wave to the party with different pledges from those held by existing progressive parties. His pledges include increasing payments for the national pension in order to invest in public rental housing.
Roh Hang-rae claimed that a new face is necessary for the Justice Party, and he is the one who can bring change.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
