Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, a former attorney general new to politics, was elected president of South Korea on Thursday, narrowly defeating the candidate of the ruling center-left party in an extremely polarized election.
Mr. Yoon, the candidate of the People Power Party (PPP), the main formation of the right-wing opposition, won with 48.59% of the vote, against 47.79% for his rival from the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, according to results covering 98% of the votes published by the Yonhap news agency. The South Korean presidential election has only one round.
“This is the victory of the great South Korean people,” Mr. Yoon told his jubilant supporters, gathered at dawn in the National Assembly.
The victory over Mr. Yoon, 61, marks a spectacular comeback for the PPP, hard hit in 2017 by the dismissal and then the imprisonment for abuse of power of President Park Geun-hye, who belonged to this training.
Paradoxically, Mr. Yoon, then prosecutor in Seoul, had played a key role in the investigation which had led to the fall of Mr.me Park.
Analysts say Wednesday’s presidential outcome could rekindle what the media have dubbed the “revenge cycle,” a feature of the extreme polarization of political life in this country of 52 million people: all ex-South Korean presidents still alive have served time in prison for corruption at the end of their terms of office.
Yoon Suk-yeol will succeed for five years in May the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, who could not stand for re-election. He promised to order an investigation into his predecessor – who had appointed him attorney general at the start of his mandate – without specifying on what grounds.
Leftist candidate Lee Jae-myung admitted defeat. “I did my best, but I didn’t live up to expectations,” Lee told his Democratic Party supporters. “It is neither your defeat nor that of the Democratic Party. All responsibility falls exclusively on me,” he added.
“Election between losers”
Turnout in Wednesday’s election stood at 77.1%, confirming strong voter interest despite a campaign marked by scandals, verbal abuse and poor debate between the two frontrunners, equally unpopular. The South Korean media had dubbed this election “the election between losers”.
The strong turnout comes as South Korea is hit hard by the pandemic, with more than 340,000 new cases of COVID-19 recorded on Wednesday and more than a million sick in isolation at home. The electoral law had been arranged so that patients with COVID-19 could vote separately for 90 minutes after the polls closed for the rest of the population.
If exit polls are to be believed, the result reflects a clear gender divide among voters under 30, the result of a campaign marred by statements deemed sexist by Mr. Yoon. In this age group, 58.7% of men voted for the right-wing candidate, and only 36.3% for Mr. Lee. Conversely, women of the same age voted 58% for Mr. Lee, and only 33.8% for Mr. Yoon.
Mr. Yoon’s proposal that has received the most attention is the elimination of the Ministry of Gender Equality, on the grounds that, despite data to the contrary, South Korean women do not suffer from “systemic discrimination”. gender,” he said.
Mr. Yoon, completely new to politics, was chosen in June to represent the PPP, the main right-wing opposition party. He campaigned by proposing a relaxation of labor law, targeting in particular the minimum wage and the maximum working time. He also advocates firmness with regard to North Korea.
His rival Lee Jae-myung, a former worker and former governor of the country’s most populous province, had proposed original measures, including a universal minimum income. But he was in the crosshairs for a suspicious land deal and numerous blunders.