Ex-presidential candidate Lee wins more rounds of voting for new DP leadership

SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) -- Rep. Lee Jae-myung, former presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), secured yet another victory in regional races to elect the new party leadership Saturday.

Lee secured more than 70 percent of the vote in the polls carried out in the southeastern port cities of Busan and Ulsan, along with South Gyeongsang Province. The tally was from voting by DP members who pay party dues.

The front-runner has so far won 74.59 percent of all votes cast, followed by Park Yong-jin with 20.7 percent and Kang Hoon-sik with 4.7 percent.

The previous weekend, Lee won overwhelming victories in three rounds of voting by DP members of Gangwon Province, the southeastern city of Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, the southern resort city of Jeju and Incheon, just west of Seoul.

Ahead of the Aug. 28 national convention, the candidates are to go through 15 rounds of regional voting, including those from Saturday and last week.

colin@yna.co.kr
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