hankyoreh

Turnout in the 2012 and 2016 general elections

The reason that the ruling Saenuri Party was trounced in the general elections on Apr. 13 and that the opposition parties made such a strong showing was because of the intense anger felt by people in their 20s and 30s, analysts say. The members of a generation who have had to sacrifice their hopes and dreams - even things as basic as dating, marriage and children - massed at the ballot box in large numbers with the hope of escaping from “Hell Joseon,” a satirical term that describes the difficulties faced by young South Koreans.

Young people that the Hankyoreh met at the polls on the day of the election, poured out their disappointment with the Park adminstration and the ruling party for disregarding their concerns and their suffering.

“Since I’m at marriageable age, I’m really worried about getting married, having and raising children,” said Han Jeong-beom, 31, who went to the polls in his sweatpants. “In this election, politicians are more concerned about setting up their allies and maintaining the establishment than with competing about policy. They’re not working on behalf of the people.”

The numbers reflect the surge of young people voting.

Exit polls by the three public broadcasters - KBS, MBC and SBS - show that the voting rate for people in their 20s and 30s was up 13 and 6 percentage points respectively from the 2012 general election. There was virtually no change in the voting rate for people in their 50s and 60s.

Breaking down these figures, it becomes apparent that the voting rates for each age group in the 2012 parliamentary elections were 36.2% for people in their 20s, 43.3% for people in their 30s, 54.1% for people in their 40s, 65.1% for people in their 50s and 69.9% for people in their 60s and above.

In contrast, exit polls for this week’s general election show voting rates of 49.4% for people in their 20s, 49.5% for people in their 30s, 53.4% for people in their 40s, 65% for people in their 50s and 70.6% for people in their 60s and above.

This indicates just how desperate young people are about the high unemployment rate and their low wages.

“Since President Park took office, there have been a lot of things that have disappointed young people, including not only political and social issues like the Sewol ferry sinking and the government’s monopolization of history textbooks but also the labor reform bills and the growth of irregular jobs. Everyone has taken action because they aren’t willing to put up with this any longer,” said Moon Yoo-jin, 25, president of the Welfare State Youth Network.

But the rise in the youth voting rate did not just take place spontaneously. It was the result of various youth organizations - including not only university student unions but also the Youth Union, the Part Time Workers Union and the Min Snail Union - getting on social media to strongly urge young people to vote.

Since March, the student union at Korea University began a campaign to encourage students to move their address to the Seongbuk district of Seoul - where the university is located - so that they could participate in the general elections. The idea was to help students at the university have a say in policies in Seongbuk district, including the construction of a new university dormitory.

The student council at Seoul National University also organized a campaign to get out the vote in the general elections. Students received badges from the union that said “I vote” and posted on Facebook that they were going to vote. After voting, they took photos of themselves wearing the badge to prove it and shared them on Facebook.

The day before the election, the student council at Yonsei University held a flash mob with the dance club on campus to encourage students to vote and increase student participation in the election.

In addition, the student council at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) held the 2016 Parliamentary Elections University Student Voting Competition and used Facebook to urge students to “take part in the voting competition by exercising your precious right to vote.” The competition involved ranking the voting rate at each university based on the photos students posted to prove that they had voted.

The Parliamentary Elections Youth Network, which was composed of 20 youth organizations, organized a flash mob and concert on a pedestrian street in Seoul’s Sinchon area on Apr. 2 to encourage people to vote. In order to help young people make up their minds, the network also operated an information booth that compared the youth-oriented policies of each party.

The high voting rate among young people is having an unexpected effect - it is eroding the regional alignment of the political parties that has remained in place for nearly three decades. The reason that the Minjoo Party of Korea was able to become the majority party despite losing Honam, its traditional stronghold in the southwest, was because of the major role played by a generational factor that transcends the traditional regional alignment.

“Change was possible because people in their 20s and 30s, who are not tied to regional connections and sentiments, made their decisions based on policy and ideology,” one pollster said.

“Young people have given the opposition parties an opportunity, but if they fail to show the potential of their policies, the opposition parties will soon face a judgment of their own,” the pollster added.

By Kim Eui-kyum and Ko Han-sol, staff reporters

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