A former leader of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-Myung, on Sunday, won the group’s presidential primary as he readies to fight again for the country’s top political office.
Lee will represent the party in a June 3 snap vote that was called after the Constitutional Court removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office earlier this month.
Yoon’s short-lived martial law decree in December triggered the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
Lee, who led an impeachment campaign against Yoon, is a frontrunner in the presidential race and leading in most opinion polls. A Gallup Poll released Friday showed 38% of respondents supporting him.
Lee said that if he is elected, he would “unite people” by restoring democracy, boosting economic growth and reducing disparities.
Lee had narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential race.
The election of a new president is a crucial step in putting the export-driven nation back on track after Yoon’s ouster created a leadership vacuum at a time when President Donald Trump is escalating trade tensions across the globe.
The nomination marks a dramatic turn of events for Lee, whose ambitions of leading the nation seemed all but over last year when he received a suspended jail sentence for breaking an electoral law.
An appeals court later acquitted him of the allegations.
A former factory worker who later became a lawyer, Lee has a history of bouncing back from challenges that include corruption allegations, a hunger strike and even being stabbed.
He is set for a race against the nominee from the ruling People Power Party, which will pick its candidate on May 3.
Its top candidates include former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo and ex-party chair Hong Joon-pyo.
Han Dong-hoon, a former justice minister under Yoon, and lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo are also seeking to represent the conservative PPP.
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