South Korea opposition set for landslide in parliamentary election
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The bitterly fought race was seen by some analysts as a referendum on South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - South Korea’s opposition was heading towards a landslide victory on April 10 in parliamentary elections, exit polls indicated, in a major blow to President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The outcome, if confirmed, will at the very least leave Mr Yoon as a lame duck for the three remaining years of his term in office, and could even open the way to his impeachment.
The Democratic Party (DP) of Lee Jae-myung – survivor of a January knife attack
Mr Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) and its partner were projected to be trailing between 85 and 99 seats, down from 114, exit polls conducted by three major broadcasters indicated.
All opposition parties combined may even have secured a super-majority of 200 in the 300-seat Parliament, which could in theory allow them to attempt to remove Mr Yoon from office before his term ends in 2027.
That includes new party Rebuilding Korea, led by former justice minister Cho Kuk
“The people have won, the will to judge Yoon Suk-yeol is very clear,” Cho said after the vote, local media reported.
On the campaign trail, he vowed to make Mr Yoon “first a lame duck, then a dead duck”.
“The figures today show the strong anger of people at Yoon for his two-year governance,” political analyst Yum Seung-yul told AFP.
“What if he won’t change even with this stunning election outcome? I think there will be even more public anger and that worries me.”
Mr Yoon beat Lee
But Lee, while fending off a slew of graft probes he says are politically motivated, has secured revenge with the election result, following a bruising and polarising campaign.
“I’ll watch the people’s choice with a humble heart,” Lee said after the vote, local media reported.
From the start of his presidency, Mr Yoon has been unpopular, with ratings hitting the low 30s, and the PPP’s lack of control of the National Assembly has stymied his socially conservative legislative agenda.
This includes planned healthcare reforms – which are backed by voters but have sparked a crippling strike by doctors
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon said that “exit polls are disappointing... We will watch the vote count”, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
On Mr Yoon’s side were shifting demographics, with voters aged 60 and older now outnumbering those in both their 20s and 30s in a country with the world’s lowest birth rate.
Younger Koreans have been put off politics by a political class dominated by older men who ignore their concerns.
Many say this was underlined by the horrific 2022 Halloween crowd crush
The younger generation is also struggling economically, with cut-throat competition in education, fewer job opportunities and sky-high housing costs.
“There is definitely less interest in this election among the people around me than last time. I think it is because they feel rather disappointed,” business owner Kim Yong-ho, 24, said outside a polling station in Seoul’s Gwangjin district.
The tone of the campaigning has also put many voters off, lacking in substantive policy debate and marked instead by shrill calls to “imprison” Lee or “punish” Mr Yoon.
“I am truly ashamed of our country’s politics and government,” Ms Kim Do-kyung, 47, an activist for migrant women and their children, told AFP.
This has been accompanied by hate speech and disinformation online that experts worry could lead to more attacks like the one on Lee in January and another weeks later.
The DP favours a less hawkish approach towards Pyongyang, and Lee has made a number of pro-China remarks.
One doctored video showed him bowing to a statue of Mao Zedong.
It has also latched onto a gaffe by Mr Yoon in March about the “reasonable” cost of green onions, a staple in Korean cooking that has soared in price.
The humble vegetable became a popular prop at DP rallies, and the election commission even banned voters from bringing them to polling stations.
Mr Jeremiah Shim, 40, a pastor, said people in his congregation are finding it harder to get by because of rising food prices.
“I support (Lee). His history and life journey are very impressive. Many people think he can change our future,” Mr Shim told AFP at a DP rally.
The first official results were expected in the early hours of April 11. AFP
