South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in granted a pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, who is in prison after being convicted of corruption, the justice ministry said on Friday, amid a tight presidential race.

Park, 69, became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote in 2017 to impeach her over a scandal that also landed the heads of two conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics,In prison

Her guilt of conspiring with a confidante in order to get tens or billions of dollars from major conglomerates for her family’s support and funding of nonprofit foundations was what brought her down.

In January, South Korea’s top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Park on the graft charges that finalized her downfall, bringing an end to the legal process and for the first time raising the possibility of a pardon.

Park’s predecessor Lee Myungbak is still in jail on corruption charges. He was not pardoned.

Park Beom Kye, Justice Minister told the briefing that former President Park was included to help overcome past mistakes and to unite people.

This decision was made as Park supporters and political leaders of the main conservative opposition People Power party had been calling for Park to be pardoned in advance of March’s presidential election.

In recent polls, Lee Jaemyung, the flag bearer Moon’s Democratic Party ruling party, and Yoon Suk-yeol (people power’s candidate) are neck and neck.

Park, according to opposition lawmakers, has suffered health problems in prison. He also had shoulder surgery.