DP's Lee solidifies lead for presidential candidacy while PPP's first cut-off to come on Tues. evening

On the political front.

The Democratic Party's presidential contender for the early election will be announced this coming weekend while the results of the People Power Party's first elimination will be shared late Tuesday.

Our correspondent Kim Do-yeon covers the partisan campaigns.

As the Democratic Party of Korea's front-runner Lee Jae-myung strengthens his dominance in the party's presidential primary, with around 90 percent of the cumulative votes so far, he now looks beyond the primaries and eyes the undecided voters for the actual presidential race.

On Monday he visited the Korea Financial Investment Association and discussed the stock exchange.

He pledged to surpass 5-thousand points in the stock market through various measures around double of what it's at today.

Meanwhile, the current runner-up, Kim Dong-yeon, has pledged to turn the primary around, saying having a clear front-runner is not good for the party overall.

The party will announce the results of its primaries in the Jeolla-do provinces on Saturday, and those for the Seoul Metropolitan Area, alongside Gangwon-do Province and Jeju on Sunday.

Public polls, accounting for 50 percent of the total, will be held for two days between April 21st and 27th, with the final candidate confirmed on April 27th.

Meanwhile, after two days of heated debates, the open poll for the first round cut-off for the People Power Party primary started on Monday with four of eight to be cut.

This is a 100-percent open opinion survey where both PPP and undecided supporters will be surveyed.

And to boost their chances, three contestants traveled to Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do Province on Monday a region known as a conservative stronghold.

Han Dong-hoon went to Gyeongju City to visit the preparations for this year's APEC Summit.

Na Kyung-won and Ahn Cheol-soo also visited Daegu to meet with supporters there.

Kim Moon-soo, who has a slight lead among the eight contestants according to recent polls, pledged to expand rapid train lines across the nation, while Hong Joon-pyo shared his vision for welfare through a press conference.

The result of the polling done on Monday and Tuesday will be released sometime on Tuesday evening.

Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News.