Exit polls: Democratic Party leads in 11 races, PPP in 1, four too close to call

Jung Won-oh leads Oh Se-hoon 51.4% to 46.0% in Seoul; Busan, Daegu, North Jeolla and Gangwon in toss-up

Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae (second from left, front row) and other party leaders watch exit poll results for the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on Wednesday afternoon. (Lim Se-jun)

Exit polls conducted by three major broadcasters for the 16 regional government head races in the June 3 local elections showed the Democratic Party of Korea leading in 11 constituencies, including Seoul, while the People Power Party was projected to win in North Gyeongsang Province. Four races — Busan, Daegu, North Jeolla Province and Gangwon Province — were too close to call.

KBS, MBC and SBS released the exit poll results simultaneously at 6 p.m. Wednesday as voting closed.

The Democratic Party led in Seoul (Jung Won-oh), Gyeonggi Province (Choo Mi-ae), Incheon (Park Chan-dae), South Gyeongsang Province (Kim Kyung-soo), Ulsan (Kim Sang-uk), Daejeon (Heo Tae-jeong), Sejong (Jo Sang-ho), South Chungcheong Province (Park Soo-hyun), North Chungcheong Province (Shin Yong-han) and Jeju (Wi Seong-gon).

In North Gyeongsang Province, PPP candidate Lee Cheol-woo was projected to defeat Democratic Party candidate Oh Jung-gi with 69.7 percent of the vote to 30.3 percent.

People Power Party standing election campaign committee chairman Jang Dong-hyeok (center) and co-chairmen, including Song Eon-seog, watch broadcaster exit poll results for the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections and the June 3 National Assembly by-elections at the party's vote-counting situation room in Yeouido, Seoul, on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

In the Seoul mayoral race, widely seen as the most fiercely contested, Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh led Oh Se-hoon 51.4 percent to 46.0 percent.

The Busan mayoral race was neck and neck, with Democratic Party candidate Jeon Jae-soo at 50.2 percent and Park Heong-joon at 48.3 percent. In Daegu, Kim Boo-kyum and PPP candidate Choo Kyung-ho were virtually tied at 49.1 percent and 49.9 percent, respectively.

In the North Jeolla gubernatorial race, Democratic Party candidate Lee Won-taek polled at 48.5 percent, narrowly ahead of independent candidate Kim Kwan-young at 46.3 percent.

In Gangwon Province, Democratic Party candidate Woo Sang-ho led with 51.3 percent against PPP incumbent Kim Jin-tae's 48.7 percent.

The poll was conducted by Korea Research, Ipsos and Korea Research International on behalf of the three broadcasters, surveying 80,146 voters at 325 polling stations nationwide from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The margin of error was plus or minus 0.8 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Results cited from the joint exit poll conducted by KBS, MBC and SBS, and from JTBC's projection poll.

bigroot@heraldcorp.com