South Korea's ruling party slated to win big in municipal elections

SEOUL - Exit polls predicted a huge win for South Korea's ruling party in municipal elections on Wednesday (June 1), in a nod to the mandate of newly inaugurated President Yoon Suk-yeol.

The People Power Party (PPP) was slated to win 10 out of 17 major races for mayorship and governorship, including Seoul, Busan and Daegu, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) would clinch just four seats, including Jeju, according to a joint poll by major TV stations KBS, MBC and SBS.

Three other races - Gyeonggi, Sejong and Daejeon - were too close to call in exit poll results announced at 7.30pm local time.

South Koreans headed to the polls on Wednesday to elect over 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, who was seeking re-election on a PPP ticket, was expected to win by a 18.5 per cent margin, while Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, also a PPP candidate seeking re-election, was leading by 34.7 per cent.

The race for the Gyeonggi governorship between Ms Kim Eun-hye of the PPP and Mr Kim Dong-yeon of the DP was neck and neck. Exit polls showed Ms Kim would win 49.4 per cent of the votes against Mr Kim's 48.8 per cent.

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

Exit polls predicted victories for Mr Lee Jae-myung and Mr Ahn Cheol-soo, both of whom ran against Mr Yoon in the presidential elections held in March.

Mr Lee of the DP was expected to enter Parliament representing Gyeyang-B district of Incheon city, while Mr Ahn of the PPP, who withdrew from the presidential race to back Mr Yoon, was slated to win a parliamentary seat for Bundang-A district of Seongnam city.

Mr Lee was ahead of his PPP opponent Yoon Hyung-sun by 8.2 percentage points, while Mr Ahn was 28 percentage points ahead of his DP rival Kim Byoung-gwan.

If the results are realised, this would mark the first time that both politicians are becoming lawmakers.

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 Gimpo Airport, which spans Seoul and Incheon, to be developed for housing and other uses.

How far he can push this proposal forward remains to be seen, as his partner in the pledge, Seoul mayor hopeful Song Young-gil, was expected to lose 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 a big win would boost the mandate of the newly formed Yoon administration, 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 said the exit polls were "largely as we expected".

But he added it was disappointing to know his party's candidates might fail to win Gyeyang-B and Jeju.

Vote counting started at around 8pm local time, and results were expected after midnight.