(Seoul) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday promised “reforms”, after disastrous legislative elections for the conservatives which strengthened the opposition’s control over Parliament.
In addition, People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and a series of senior aides tendered their resignations, local media reported.
“I will humbly honor the people’s will expressed in the general election, reform state affairs and do my best to stabilize the economy and people’s livelihoods,” Mr. Yoon said, according to his chief of staff, Lee Kwan-sup.
South Korea’s main opposition party has won the legislative elections, according to almost complete results, the Yonhap news agency reported Thursday, a blow to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol.
According to the almost final results of Wednesday’s vote communicated by the National Election Commission, Mr. Yoon’s conservative PPP and his ally went from 114 to 108 seats in Parliament.
The big winners are the Democratic Party (DP) of Lee Jae-myung and its allies, who saw their number of seats increase to 174, compared to 156 in the previous legislature.
The Rebuild Korea party, founded a few weeks ago by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, targeted by accusations of corruption which he denies, took advantage of discontent with the two main parties to obtain 12 seats .
The opposition’s triumph, however, was less significant than exit polls suggested, with all opposition parties combined failing to achieve a supermajority of 200 seats in the National Assembly, which counts 300.
“The people won”
“The people have won, the desire to try Yoon Suk Yeol is very clear,” Mr. Cho said after the vote, local media reported.
For political analyst Yum Seung-yul, “today’s figures show people’s strong anger against Yoon for his two years of governance.”
“What if he doesn’t change, even with this uplifting election result? I think there will be even more public anger and that worries me,” he added to AFP.
Narrowly elected in 2022 against Mr. Lee, Mr. Yoon has pursued a firm policy towards North Korea while strengthening his country’s alliance with the United States and moving closer to Japan, former colonial power with which there are numerous historical quarrels.
But the lack of a parliamentary majority has already prevented him from implementing his right-wing program, and since the start of his presidency, his popularity rating has never taken off, often remaining around 30%.
Lee Jae-myung, mired in a series of corruption investigations that he considers motivated by political considerations, can now savor his revenge, obtained at the end of an ultra-polarized and hateful electoral campaign. The result of the election puts him in a good position to try his luck again in the 2027 presidential election.
“I will look at the people’s choice with a humble heart,” Mr Lee said after the vote, as quoted by local media.
At the National Assembly in Seoul, where lawmakers and other officials gathered Wednesday for election night, the mood was somber among the PPP ranks, while shouts of joy and applause rang out from the Democrats.
However, demographics worked in favor of Mr. Yoon, voters aged over sixty, considered more conservative, being more numerous than the youngest, many of whom say they feel abandoned by the political class.
“Imprison” and “punish”
“People around me are much less interested in these elections than last time. I think it’s because they feel quite disappointed,” noted Kim Yong-ho, 24, a business owner, outside a polling station in Seoul’s Gwangjin district. .
The tone of the campaign also turned off many voters. Substantive political debate has been nonexistent, replaced by calls to “jail” Mr. Lee or “punish” Mr. Yoon, hate speech and online misinformation that experts fear could lead to further attacks. physical attacks like the one Mr. Lee suffered in January.
“I am really ashamed of the politics and government of our country,” breathes Kim Do-kyung, 47, an activist for migrant women and their children.