A former chief-of-staff to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, Moon most recently served as the opposition leader of the Minjoo Party of Korea from 2015 to 2016 and a member of the 19th National Assembly. Previously, he was the Democratic United Party's candidate for the 2012 presidential election after winning a majority in the party primaries, but losing narrowly to Park Geun-hye. He was elected to be the 19th president in the 2017 election by a large plurality against two other major candidates.