South Korea will hold a presidential election on May 9 to replace impeached leader Park Geun-hye, who was dismissed last Friday over a corruption scandal, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has also been acting president since December, said earlier he would not run for president in the election.
Hwang became acting as president when parliament impeached Park in December. The Constitutional Court upheld Park's impeachment last Friday and dismissed her from office.
Hwang had emerged in opinion polls as a top conservative candidate even though he never declared an intention to run.
Hwang's withdrawal leaves the ruling party with no strong candidate. Korean political commentator, SJ Suh said the ruling party should find a candidate amongst politicians because as we can see from the withdrawal of former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and Hwang this time, it is difficult for government official to transform to politicians in short period.
The SBS Korean program has more.
