hankyoreh

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung; People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon; Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk. (Yonhap)

The Korean public delivered a punishing rebuke to President Yoon Suk-yeol in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday. The Democratic Party and other opposition parties prevailed, crushing Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP). With the opposition retaining a firm grip on the National Assembly, Yoon is likely to lose a lot of steam for governance in the second half of his presidency.

Final vote tallies for the 22nd National Assembly election had the Democratic Party winning 161 electoral districts, and the PPP taking 90 districts. The Reform Party, New Future Party (Saemirae) and Progressive Party each claimed one district apiece.

With 46 seats up for grabs under Korea’s system of proportional representation, the allotments were 18 seats for the People Future Party (a satellite party of the PPP), 14 seats for the Democratic United Party (a satellite party of the Democratic Party), 12 seats for the Rebuilding Korea Party and two seats for the Reform Party.

That gives the Democratic Party and its satellite party a combined total of 175 seats, and the PPP and its satellite party 108 seats. The minor Green Justice Party won no seats at all.

Lawmakers at the national level serve four-year terms in Korea, meaning the 22nd National Assembly will be in place until Yoon leaves office.

Joint exit polls by Korea’s three major terrestrial broadcasters (KBS, MBC and SBS) that were announced at 6 pm on Wednesday had projected the combined opposition would claim 200 of the total 300 seats in the National Assembly (254 lawmakers elected in districts and 46 through proportional representation). But once ballots were actually tallied, PPP candidates ended up winning more districts than expected.

The ballot count in electoral districts (as of 3 am) indicated that the Democratic Party had picked up 99 of 122 districts in the greater Seoul area. The main opposition party was also leading in 21 out of 28 districts in North and South Chungcheong, which often play kingmaker in Korean elections.

But the PPP performed rather well in the Nakdong River belt — the southeastern corner of the country, near Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province — where it won 34 of 40 battleground districts.

(Left) Lee Jae-myung and other members of the Democratic Party’s leadership celebrate exit poll figures announced by Korea’s main three terrestrial broadcasters on April 10, the day of the general election. (Right) Han Dong-hoon and fellow leaders of the ruling People Power Party watch exit polls come in. (Yonhap)

This is the Democratic Party’s third consecutive victory in Korea’s general elections, giving it both immense influence over the legislative process, as well as weighty responsibility for running the country.

Shortly after exit polls were announced, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said he intended to “humbly uphold the people’s choice to the last.”

The Rebuilding Korea Party, which led the way in framing the election as a “message of clear judgment against the administration,” appears likely to play a key part in the opposition after coming away with more than 10 seats. Outside of those parties, observers are also watching to see what sort of role Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok will play after emerging victorious in his run for the Hwaseong B seat in Gyeonggi Province.

After the decisive blow dealt by voters, the Yoon administration and ruling PPP are expected to face severe fallout. The administration will end up as the first in the history of Korea’s constitutional government to spend all five years of its term facing an opposition-dominated parliament.

With the pan-opposition field reaching a cumulative total of more than 180 seats, it will not only be able to unilaterally pass legislation like the 21st National Assembly but also to use fast-tracking and other means of thwarting the PPP’s attempts to block bills. Had it managed to grab 200 seats, it would effectively have nullified the president’s veto powers and empowered the parliament to amend the Constitution and pursue impeachment.

But with some candidates defying the exit poll findings to achieve victory when votes were actually counted, some were still hanging on to hopes.

Commenting on the exit poll results, PPP emergency committee chairperson Han Dong-hoon said, “Despite our best efforts to pursue politics in line with the public’s will, the exit poll results have been disappointing.”

“We’re going to wait until all the votes are in,” he added.

The election’s provisional voter turnout rate of 67.0% was the highest in 32 years since the 14th general elections in 1992, when the rate reached 71.9%.

By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter

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