(LEAD) Former DP leader Lee wins southeastern region’s primary for presidential election

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS more info in paras 4, 6, 8)

SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) — Former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung won the southeastern Gyeongsang region Sunday, cementing his dominant lead in the party’s primary for the June 3 presidential election.

Lee, who declared his presidential bid earlier this month and is leading opinion polls for the presidential election, won a whopping 90.81 percent of the total vote in a presidential primary in North and South Gyeongsang provinces, and the cities of Busan, Daegu and Ulsan, according to party officials.

Lee defeated the DP’s two other contenders by a large margin — Kim Kyung-soo, a former South Gyeongsang Province governor, with 5.93 percent and Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Dong-yeon with 3.26 percent.

“I believe this means that the party members have high expectations of me,” Lee told reporters after the primary’s result came out. “I feel a great sense of responsibility.”

Lee’s landslide victory in the second round of the party primary, following his win in the central Chungcheong region on Saturday, likely sets the stage for him to be selected as the liberal party’s presidential candidate.

The accumulated rate of votes from the two regional votes for Lee stands at 89.56 percent, far exceeding that of Kim Kyung-soo’s 5.17 percent and Kim Dong-yeon’s 5.27 percent.

The DP will hold two more similar regional primaries and pick its presidential candidate on April 27.

The upcoming election is triggered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster over his short-lived martial law declaration in December. Lee lost the presidential race to Yoon by a thin margin in 2022.