[Analysis] Progressive parties take a beating in municipal elections

Posted on : 2014-06-06 16:34 KST Modified on : 2014-06-06 16:34 KST
Voters see no reason to support progressive parties that have failed to provide an attractive alternative to conservatives
Unified Progressive Party leader Lee Jung-hee (center) and other senior party members watch the results of broadcaster exit polls from the June 4 municipal elections
Unified Progressive Party leader Lee Jung-hee (center) and other senior party members watch the results of broadcaster exit polls from the June 4 municipal elections

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

The progressive parties suffered a major drubbing from voters in municipal elections on June 4. Ten years after they first entered parliament, they’re confronting a situation where their survival is in question.

The Unified Progressive Party (UPP), Justice Party (JP), and Labor Party (LP) all failed to produce a single large or small local government head win in the municipal election. Their numbers in the large and small local government council elections were similarly disappointing.

The UPP had the most candidates running, with 515, and got only three large local government council seats and 34 small local government council seats. This was less than one-third its performance in the 2010 municipal elections, when an opposition alliance netted it three basic local government council seats, 24 Metropolitan city and provincial council seats, and 115 small local government council seats. This time, it had hoped to win in Ulsan’s East and North districts, where district head incumbents were running for reelection, but ended up coming short by margins of less than 5%.

 at the party’s offices in Seoul’s Dongjak district. (Yonhap News)
at the party’s offices in Seoul’s Dongjak district. (Yonhap News)

For the JP, the situation was even worse, its members left stunned by a haul of just 11 local government council seats. The LP won just one large local government seat and six local government seats. All together, the parties came away with less than half their 2010 take - an even poorer showing than the 2006 municipal elections. Taken by themselves, the numbers suggest the parties are back where they started ten years ago.

The party leaders’ reactions on June 5 showed them blaming the poor showing on red-baiting, internal schisms, and a failure to register a strong image with the public.

“I’d like to thank the public for showing support and encouragement for the Unified Progressive Party despite the accusations of North Korean allegiance and the red-baiting,” said UPP chairperson Lee Jung-hee in her message. “We failed to triumph over the scars of divisions, and we suffered a cold reception.”

JP chairperson Chun Ho-sun said, “The voters may not yet have had a sense of what kind of party we were, or a clear idea of why they should vote for us.”

Justice Party leader Chun Ho-sun (second from the left) and other senior party members watch the results of broadcaster exit polls from the June 4 municipal elections
Justice Party leader Chun Ho-sun (second from the left) and other senior party members watch the results of broadcaster exit polls from the June 4 municipal elections

But most observers said the dismal performance by the progressive parties is not just a one-off phenomenon. Their support ratings have nosedived after a series of scandals, from the deep fissures triggered by the 2011 launch of the UPP and a scandal over proportional representatives the following year, the 2013 arrest of National Assembly member Lee Seok-ki on charges of insurrection, and a court ruling to dissolve the UPP earlier this year. Meanwhile, all but a few lawmakers failed to make much of an impact for the party in parliament, and none of the parties has managed to come up with new agenda items. The dismal municipal election performance was the result of all these factors coming together.

“This election was a crucial opportunity for the Unified Progressive Party, Justice Party, and Labor Party,” said Park Sang-hoon, president of the Humanitas publishing house. “This municipal election was a judgment of the popular progressive parties’ experiments to date, after all the dissolutions and divisions.”

Ko Won, a professor of political science at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, said the progressive parties “peaked with the creation of the UPP.”

“Since then, the voters have watched them standing at the center of a firestorm over being so-called ‘pro-North Korea’ and failing to play a role in the National Assembly,” Ko continued.

“Just in terms of this latest election, they fundamentally failed to come out with values that are suited to the times and the social currents,” Ko added. “After they lost the support of people who saw them as necessary to broaden the horizons of South Korean society, people just didn’t sense any more reason to vote for them.”

The improved numbers of progressive education superintendents offer some possible lessons. In addition to the strong impact from rallying behind single candidates, there was also a positive response to the efforts to offer concrete alternatives on the ground at schools.

“While the parties themselves struggled with their ‘movement’ image and the accusations of ties to North Korea, the progressive education superintendent candidates forged a clear competition by pitting alternative values like communication and safety against conservative values of growth, competition, and elite education,” Ko said. “The progressive parties should take note.”

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