Ahn meets with ex-interim head of liberal party amid falling approval rating

SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Centrist presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo met with a former interim leader of the liberal Democratic Party on Thursday night to solicit his support ahead of the May 9 election, party sources said.

Ahn of the center-left People's Party met with Kim Chong-in at a hotel in Seoul to ask him to join his party, according to the sources, at a time when recent polls showed Ahn's approval rating on the decline.

It appears that Ahn may announce that Kim has joined the party on Friday, when he announces his vision to launch a coalition government consisting of "rational" people who are not affiliated with ousted leader Park Geun-hye or other powerful factions.

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party widened his lead over Ahn, a former software mogul and maverick lawmaker, in a poll unveiled on Thursday.

Kim, who left the Democratic Party in March, announced his bid to run for president earlier this month in what could have been an attempt to promote a coalition against Moon. But later, he decided not to run.

Kim is an outspoken critic of Moon, accusing him of practicing the authoritarian leadership that he claims to despise.
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