PPP's Ahn Cheol-soo besting DP's Lee Kwang-jae in blockbuster Bundang-A showdown

The Democratic Party's Lee Kwang-jae beat Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party XX percent to XX percent in the Bundang-A District race.

Liberal Democratic Party candidate Lee Kwang-jae, left, and conservative People Power Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo cast their ballots during the early voting period on April 5 in Bundang District, Seongnam in Gyeonggi. [NEWS1]

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party (PPP) held a lead over his liberal rival, Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Kwang-jae in a close race for Bundang-A District in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, as of 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Ahn had 53.67 percent of votes counted so far, with Lee following close behind with 46.32 percent. The vote count stood at 26,991, or 16.34 percent.

The race was considered a major showdown between two big shots of the rival parties, as both candidates took leadership roles within their respective election committees.

The PPP’s Ahn, a software mogul-turned-politician, is a three-term lawmaker and the district incumbent. He won the by-election for a parliamentary seat representing Bundang-A District in June 2022.

Ahn ran in the presidential elections in 2012, 2017 and 2022, withdrawing in two of them and coming in third in the 2017 election behind former President Moon Jae-in. In 2021, he suspended his campaign for mayor of Seoul.

Lee served as a legislator in the 17th, 18th and 21st National Assembly and was the governor of Gangwon from 2010 to 2011. He stepped down from his post as a lawmaker in 2022 to run for governor of Gangwon but lost to Kim Jin-tae of the PPP. He announced a bid to run in the 2022 presidential election but withdrew in 2021.

According to joint exit poll results released by the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS after the polls closed, Lee was projected to take the race with 52.8 percent against Ahn's 47.2 percent.

The poll surveyed 359,750 voters at 1,980 polling stations nationwide as voting was underway, and had a 95-percent confidence interval with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 to 7.4 percentage points.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]