SEOUL, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A total of 11 lawmakers left South Korea's ruling party Monday, complaining about the falling popularity of its candidate with presidential elections less than seven weeks away.
The defections, which included a former party chief, brought to 15 the number of legislators who have left the Millennium Democratic Party in four days.
"Five or six more lawmakers are expected quit the party within this week," a senior party official told United Press International. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said their defections were forced by losing hopes in Roh Moon-hyun's chances of victory in the Dec. 19 election to pick the successor of President Kim Dae-jung.
With the defections, the number of the MDP's seats fell to 96 in the 272-member National Assembly, which is controlled by the conservative opposition Grand National Party with 142 seats.
Kim founded his party six years ago ahead of the 1992 presidential vote, but quit the party early this year after some junior members challenged his policy and leadership.
"We are taking this action because the party cannot win the election. We can't agree with candidate Roh Moo-hyun," the 11 departing lawmakers said in a statement. Roh, a reform-minded former dissident lawyer, was elected in April as the party's presidential candidate.
The lawmakers said their defections were aimed at putting pressure on Roh to strike a deal with independent presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon to field a single candidate. "We have demanded the unification of the two candidacies as the only method to win the presidential election," the statement said.
Opposition candidate Lee Hoi-chang has maintained a solid lead over Roh and Chung in all the latest opinions polls. A survey, published Monday by the Chosun daily newspaper, showed Lee at 34 percent support, while Roh had 19 percent and Chung had 22.6 percent. Opinions polls showed even if Roh or Chung fields as a single candidate, Lee would win the election.
Under growing pressure, Roh proposed that he could unite with Chung through primary elections. But Chung rejected the idea, saying its camp "does not have the time to discuss the issue" with the presidential election less than 50 days.
"Mr. Chung's reasons for rejecting Mr. Roh's proposal have no legal or any other justifiable grounds," Lee Kyung-hee, a party spokeswoman, told UPI.
