South Korea’s opposition bloc, including the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was expected to sweep as many as more than 200 seats in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, exit polls showed, in what would be a crushing defeat for the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The results, if materialized, would give the opposition bloc more than a two-thirds majority in the 300-member National Assembly that is powerful enough to override presidential vetoes, revise the Constitution and impeach the president.
TV exit polls showed that the DP and its sister Democratic United Party that only targets proportional representation seats would win 168-197 seats, while the PPP and its sister People Future Party were expected to win 85-111 seats.
The new Rebuilding Korea Party, led by the scandal-tainted former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, was projected to win as many as 15 proportional seats, after campaigning with calls for bringing an early end to the Yoon government.
If confirmed, the predi
ctions would deal a severe blow to Yoon, whose administration has struggled with challenges due to low approval ratings and the opposition-controlled National Assembly over the past two years.
This year’s vote carried extra weight for the PPP as a failure to regain a majority could potentially render the Yoon administration a lame duck for the remaining three years of his single five-year term, ending in 2027.
The PPP has pleaded for voter support, imploring that the Yoon administration has been unable to push its reform agenda properly forward for the past two years due to the uncooperative parliament under opposition control.
The DP, on the other hand, has urged voters to pass stern judgment on what it calls the “incompetent” Yoon administration, accusing it of causing the economy and the livelihoods of the people to worsen seriously and mishandling a series of controversial issues for the past two years.
Following the release of exit poll results, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon expressed disappointment.
“Th
e PPP did its best to do politics that uphold the will of the people, but the exit poll results are disappointing,” Han said after watching the results at the National Assembly with party members. “We will watch the results of vote counting until the end.”
The DP celebrated the exit poll outcomes, with leader Lee Jae-myung applauding alongside party members at the National Assembly.
“We will watch people’s choices until the end with a humble heart,” Lee said.
Cho, the former justice minister, hailed the exit poll results as victory for the people.
“The people have won,” Cho said after watching the exit polls. “The people have made their intent clear that it is a verdict handed down to the Yoon Suk Yeol government.”
Cho said the results showed that the people can “no longer put up with the regression” of the government, urging Yoon to humbly accept the election outcome.
Observers have emphasized the significance of the 48 constituencies in Seoul, regarding them as the primary battlegrounds that will ulti
mately shape the election outcome, as historical data suggests that results in Seoul often closely reflect the overall election results.
According to exit polls conducted by three broadcasters, in the Gyeyang-B district in Incheon, just west of Seoul, 56.1 percent of voters cast their ballots for DP Chairman Lee, while 43.8 percent voted for PPP rival Won Hee-ryong, who previously served as the country’s land minister.
In Seoul’s Dongjak-B district, DP candidate Ryu Sam-young emerged victorious in a closely contested race against four-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won of the PPP, according to the polls.
Final results are expected early Thursday.
Voter turnout recorded the highest in 32 years.
A total of 14,259 polling stations across the nation closed at 6 p.m., after some 29.66 million, or 67 percent, of the total 44.28 million eligible voters had cast their ballots for 12 hours, according to the National Election Commission. The results were tentative.
The turnout was 0.8 percentage point higher than the 202
0 tally of 66.2 percent, marking the highest turnout for general elections since 1992, when the turnout came in at 71.9 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency