DP's candidates push for votes in southwest while PPP's one-on-one debates start

We turn now to the latest on partisan primaries amid prospects that the final two candidates for the presidential race may be named by next week.

For more I have our political correspondent Kim Do-yeon live on the line.

Do-yeon welcome back.

So I hear contenders of the Democratic Party are currently in the southwestern part of the country?

That's right, Sun-hee. The voting for DP members in what's known as the Honam region the traditional stronghold of the DP is going on at the moment.

The Honam region consists of the Jeolla-do provinces and Gwangju City.

Front-runner Lee Jae-myung visited Jeollabuk-do Province first where he shared his renewable energy plans and is set to visit Gwangju City located further south.

There, he's set to visit the May 18 Pro-Democratization Movement sites also meet with the mother of the late Moon Jae-hak—the real-life inspiration for Nobel laureate Han Kang's award-winning book "Human Acts."

The two trailing candidates Kim Kyung-soo and Kim Dong-yeon are also in the region today, visiting key local points to meet as many people as possible.

The voting in this region closes on Saturday with the results coming out on that day as well.

Meanwhile, the last set of regions for voting, the capital region, Gangwon-do Province, and Jeju, started on Thursday.

This wraps up on Sunday when the final winner will be announced at the Party's convention.

Meanwhile the much anticipated one-on-one debates among contenders of the People Power Party have begun?

That's right, Sun-hee. At the moment, Kim Moon-soo and Han Dong-hoon are in the first of four one-on-one debates.

With the PPP race having no clear front-runner, these second-round debates are expected to be crucial.

The two started off with a heated debate on the rule of law, targeting DP's likely candidate Lee Jae-myung's allegations.

In addition, as Kim is known to have been against Yoon's impeachment and Han was pro-impeachment, Kim questioned Han about his fallen relationship with former President Yoon.

One thing to keep an eye for for the PPP race is this aspect as some PPP electors still support Yoon and for the second round, the votes will be 50-percent PPP electors and 50-percent an open survey giving more weight to individual PPP electors.

Keep in mind, the one-on-one partners were picked by the four candidates and the current one is led by Kim Moon-soo as it's his slot.

At five thirty the second one starts and Ahn picked Kim Moon-soo.

Han Dong-hoon and Hong Joon-pyo picked each other for their slots on Friday, making their debate a three-hour-long one.

Reporting live from the National Assembly, this is Kim Do-yeon.