SEOUL - As the clock ticks down to May 11 when candidates will have to register for South Korea’s snap presidential election, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) is still mired in infighting over who would be its final nominee.

Despite emerging the victorious PPP candidate on May 3 after three rounds of party primaries, former labour minister Kim Moon-soo, 74, finds himself locked in dispute with the party leadership that is pressurising him to pursue a “unified candidacy” instead with former prime minister Han Duck-soo, who resigned to declare his presidential bid on May 1.

In asking for a unified candidacy, the PPP is in effect asking Mr Kim to make way for Mr Han as the party’s presidential candidate.

Mr Han, 76, who is ahead of Mr Kim in the opinion polls, is not a member of any political party but was appointed prime minister by then President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is from the PPP.

He has served in senior positions in both conservative and liberal governments throughout his career.

The PPP is desperate for a credible contender to block the opposition’s candidate Lee Jae-myung, who has been maintaining a large lead over other potential candidates in the opinion polls since the snap election was called on April 4. 

South Koreans are set to head to the polls on June 3 to elect a new leader after former president Yoon’s impeachment was confirmed by the country’s Constitutional Court on April 4, for his botched martial law declaration on Dec 3, 2024.  

Mr Han, who had stepped up as acting president after Yoon’s impeachment, has been racing up the opinion polls since he threw his hat into the ring.

The latest results of a poll commissioned by the National Barometer Survey, released on May 8, showed Mr Han registering 23 per cent of support, up 10 percentage points from a week before, while Mr Kim registered 12 per cent. 

The PPP leaders are therefore hoping to ride on Mr Han’s growing popularity to win over voters from election...