hankyoreh

After making a speech to thank supporters

Moon Jae-in, candidate for the liberal Minjoo Party, was elected South Korea’s 19th president. With all votes tallied by the National Election Commission, Moon had received 13,423,800 votes, or 41.1% of valid ballots, clinching the victory with a huge lead over conservative Liberty Korea Party candidate Hong Joon-pyo, who received 7,852,849 votes, or 24.1% of the total. Finishing third with 21.4% of the vote was moderate People’s Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo (6,998,342 votes), who had been neck and neck with Moon in an earlier part of the race, with conservative Bareun Party candidate Yoo Seong-min (6.8%, 2,208,771 votes) and left-wing Justice Party candidate Shim Sang-jung (6.2%, 2,017,458 votes) trailing.

At 11:45 pm on May 9, with his victory all but official, Moon made an appearance at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. “This was a great victory for all the great people who have joined me to make a fair country, a unified country, a country worthy of the name and defined by principles and common sense. I will be a president for all the people, a unity president who serves even those who did not support me,” he said. His remarks placed more emphasis on national unity than on uprooting entrenched social problems, which he had repeatedly emphasized on the campaign trail.

With Moon’s victory, South Korea’s liberals succeeded at returning to power ten years after former president Roh Moo-hyun’s term came to an end in Feb. 2008. Revelations about the corruption, rule-breaking and privileges of key leaders

Results of the 19th presidential election (Data: National Election Commission)

in Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri Party, which held power during this period, culminated in South Korea’s first instance of a president being removed from office, and during the presidential election held just two months later, the Saenuri Party (which split into the Liberty Korea and Bareun parties) only received about 25% of the vote.

Considering that the outcome of the presidential election was largely the result of the national desire for a complete restructuring of South Korean society that was expressed in the candlelight rallies, Moon no doubt feels not only the thrill of victory but a sense of responsibility and a burden about governing. The task awaiting him is to develop specific policies for tackling the demands for fundamental reform voiced in the candlelight rallies while also healing the political and generational divisions that widened during the impeachment of former president Park and during the presidential election.

The Central Election Commission announced that, among 42,479,710 eligible voters, 32,807,908 people voted in this presidential election, amounting to a final turnout of 77.2%. This included the 11,072,310 (26.06%) cast ballots in advance voting on May 4 and 5. This was the highest number since the 15th presidential election in 1997. While this was 1.4 percentage points higher than the 75.8% turnout in the 2012 presidential election, it failed to clear the 80% barrier. While many had expected that final voter turnout would exceed 80% because of the keen public desire for a transfer of power and because of the highest ever turnout for early voting, these expectations were not borne out.

By Lee Se-young, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

After making a speech to thank supporters, President-elect Moon Jae-in waves to the crowd gathered in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square, in the early hours of May 10. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)