Transfer of power in S.Korea to cause dramatic changes

The absence of experience in domestic politics was cited as Ban's weakest point in running for president. The expert said that if the Minjoo Party puts forward a single candidate via primary, divided support among separate contenders will be centered on the single choice amid surging wish for transfer of power to the opposition bloc.

Lee Jae-myung of the Minjoo Party, mayor of Seongnam, a city to the southeast of capital Seoul, made a meteoric rise in recent surveys, moving into a third place for his active participation in candlelight vigils and his popular social welfare services including free postnatal care to new mothers, free school uniforms to secondary school students and cash handouts to all of the 24-year-old youths.

Mayor Lee, the expert said, has recently done the most talented performance as he aggressively sought to represent the public fury in candlelit vigils over the Park Geun-hye administration in contrast to Moon Jae-in who initially took cautious stance on the weekend protest rallies.

In addition to his political competence, Lee has proven his administrative capability as Seongnam mayor through progressive social welfare policies, which can broaden his appeal to traditionally conservative voters, said the expert who described Mayor Lee as a dark horse in the early presidential race.

Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party came in fourth in presidential surveys. Ahn, the rising star in the 2012 election who withdrew his presidency to throw his support behind Moon, defected from the Minjoo Party and created the People's Party in February this year to take his own line.

The political commentator said Ahn suffered from relatively heavy damages from the impeachment as public support tends to be cut into two extremes under a political instability, noting that his party was launched as an alternative political power separately from both Saenuri and Minjoo parties.

Ahn represented public wish for new politics in the 2012 presidential election, but he has currently become one of the established politicians who cannot stir up a "new wind" in the political arena any more, said the expert.