With South Korea's presidential election only three days away, Lee Jung-hee, a left-leaning candidate from a minor party, decided to quit the race on Sunday.

Lee from the Unified Progressive Party made the decision in an emergency camp meeting earlier on Sunday and she will not attend the televised debate scheduled for 8:00 p.m., her aides said.

"I step down as a presidential candidate in accordance with the people's hope for integrating (opposition) progressive, democratic and reform-minded forces to achieve a change of government," Lee said in a press conference.

Lee also claimed, as she resigned, that a victory for Park Geun-hye from the ruling Saenuri Party would mean an "irrevocable regression of history," referring to the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, candidate Park's father, during the 1960s and 1970s.

Lee's resignation came as the Dec. 19 presidential election is expected to be a close race between ruling-party candidate Park and leading opposition party candidate Moon Jae-in. (Yonhap News)