SEOUL, The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) hopes to win as many as 151 seats in next month’s general elections, the minimum majority in the 300-member National Assembly, one of the party’s election officials said Tuesday.
Rep. Kim Min-suk, chief situation officer in the DP’s campaign committee, made the remark during a meeting of the committee, saying the April 10 elections will be a very close race where it is “very hard to secure the No. 1 party.
“The situation is very fluid and too close to call,” Kim said.
The DP said last week it expects to secure up to 153 seats in the 300-member parliament, as it projects to win around 130 to 140 directly voted seats and 13 or more seats from proportional representative votes.
“After a careful analysis and discussions, we came to the conclusion that our hope of seizing 153 seats could just be our best hope,” Kim said.
Other committee members gave a similar outlook.
“We are in a phase where things are getting intense and competitive,” said Kim Boo-kyum, a f
ormer prime minister and the co-chair of the DP’s campaign committee. “It would be more accurate to say that we are falling slightly behind at the moment.”
Later in the day, Chairman Lee Jae-myung reiterated such a goal in a press conference.
“The goal we have to achieve at all costs is to become the No. 1 party,” Lee said in the city of Chuncheon, 75 kilometers northeast of Seoul. “Ultimately our most important goal and task is to stop the People Power Party from securing a majority.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency