South Korea's ruling party wins big in municipal elections

South Korea's ruling People Power Party members and lawmaker cheering on June 1, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

SEOUL - South Korea’s ruling party won a landslide victory in municipal elections held on Wednesday (June 1), in a boost to the mandate of newly inaugurated President Yoon Suk-yeol.

The People Power Party (PPP) won 12 out of 17 major races for mayorship and governorship, including Seoul, Busan and Daegu, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) clinched just five seats, including Gyeonggi and Jeju.

This marks a drastic shift of power to the PPP, which won only three of these seats in the previous elections held in 2018, when the DP was in power.

Observers said the victory is largely expected as Mr Yoon has shown good work since his inauguration on May 10, such as hosting a successful summit with visiting United States President Joe Biden and pushing through in Parliament the largest-ever extra budget to help small business owners badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Yoon thanked the public on Thursday and said he interprets the election results as "the people's call to revive the economy and improve their livelihoods''.

"The Yoon Suk-yeol administration will put all of its efforts into stabilising the people's livelihoods with the mindset of economy first, economy second, economy third," he said through a spokesman.

South Koreans headed to the polls on Wednesday to elect more than 4,000 municipal seats, including governorship of nine provinces, mayorship of eight major cities and various leadership positions in provincial and city councils.

A total of 509 posts were uncontested, according to the National Election Commission.

The total voter turnout was 50.9 per cent - lower than the 60.2 per cent at the last municipal elections in 2018.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, both from the PPP, were re-elected with wide margins.

The fiercest battle was fought in Gyeonggi province, with DP candidate Kim Dong-yeon winning the governorship race with a razor-thin margin of 0.15 per cent.

By-elections were also held on the same day for seven parliamentary seats.

Incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was re-elected with wide margins. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Mr Lee Jae-myung and Mr Ahn Cheol-soo, both of whom ran against Mr Yoon in the presidential elections held in March, were both elected into Parliament for the first time in their political careers.

Mr Lee of the DP would represent Gyeyang-B district of Incheon city, while Mr Ahn of the PPP, who withdrew from the presidential race to back Mr Yoon, won a seat for Bundang-A district of Seongnam city.

Mr Lee, a former Gyeonggi governor, had caused a stir last week, pledging to close Gimpo Airport in western Seoul and move its operations to Incheon International Airport if elected.

This, he said, would allow the land around the Gimpo airport, which spans Seoul and Incheon, to be developed for housing and other uses.

Mr Song Young-gil bowing in front of his supporters after conceding defeat. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

How far he can push this proposal forward remains to be seen, as his partner in the pledge, Seoul mayor hopeful Song Young-gil, lost the race.

Mr Song had represented Gyeyang-B for five terms before leaving this year to run for Seoul mayorship.

The municipal elections were held less than a month after Mr Yoon took office on May 10.

While the PPP victory would give the newly formed Yoon administration a huge push in managing state affairs, observers said the President would still face hurdles trying to pass Bills in the opposition-controlled Parliament.

The DP holds at least 168 out of 300 seats.

PPP chairman Lee Jun-seok thanked members of the public for their support.

"More than anything else, we are grateful to get a chance to take over a considerable part of regional administration following the presidential election victory," he said.

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