Han Dong-hoon’s presidential fundraising reached its legal maximum on Monday after just 11 hours. His campaign team announced that contributions hit 2.94 billion won by 7:55 p.m. The team quickly ended the event, as the Political Funds Act caps individual campaign fundraising at 5 percent of the allowed expenses.
Han is running in the People Power Party’s primary for the June 3 presidential election. His campaign’s fundraising success came shortly after opening at 9 a.m. Monday. Just 40 minutes in, donations had already surpassed 1 billion won. By 5:07 p.m., the amount surged past 2.5 billion won.
The National Election Commission set the campaign expense ceiling at 58.85 billion won. Therefore, Han Dong-hoon’s presidential fundraising legally could not exceed the 2.94 billion won mark. Around 35,000 people contributed to his campaign. Notably, 93.9 percent of donors gave less than 100,000 won each.
Han thanked his supporters for the strong show of public support. He promised to deliver an “overwhelming victory” in the election. Han’s presidential fundraising performance signals growing momentum in the race.
Although impressive, Han’s total fell slightly behind that of liberal rival Lee Jae-myung. Last week, Lee raised nearly 3.2 billion won in donations. Lee currently leads in national polls, gaining 50.2 percent support.
Meanwhile, Han must advance through his party’s primary rounds. The People Power Party will narrow the current eight candidates to four after public opinion polling. Later, two finalists will emerge through combined polling and party member votes. The party will declare its final candidate on May 3 during its convention. Moreover, Other primary candidates include Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo with 7.5 percent support, and Rep. Na Kyung-won with 2 percent.
Han Dong-hoon’s presidential fundraising effort has energized his campaign. Now, attention shifts to whether he can secure a spot among the final two candidates.
