South Koreans elect their deputies, crucial vote for the president

(Seoul) South Koreans began voting on Wednesday to renew their Parliament, a vote which also serves as a referendum for or against President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative program, after a polarized and hateful electoral campaign.

The Democratic Party (center left) of Lee Jae-myung, the president’s great rival and who was seriously injured three months ago in a knife attack, could, if polls are to be believed, increase its majority in the National Assembly, unicameral Parliament of 300 members elected for four years.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. (5 p.m. [heure de l’Est] Tuesday) and will close at 6 p.m. (5 a.m. Eastern time), AFP journalists noted.

In a polling station in Gwangjin district, a district of Seoul, voters waited patiently in line early Wednesday morning to show their identity documents, receive their ballots, before going to vote in the voting booths.

The results are expected during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.

Mr. Yoon narrowly defeated Mr. Lee in the 2022 presidential election. He has since pursued a firm policy towards North Korea while strengthening his country’s alliance with the United States. and by getting closer to Japan, a former colonial power with which there are numerous historical quarrels.

But the president’s popularity never took off, often remaining around 30%, and his lack of a parliamentary majority hampered his socially conservative political agenda.

Its unpopularity is due to “the lack of real progress on domestic political and economic issues,” Andrew Yeo, a political scientist at the Catholic University of America, told AFP.

“Prices and inflation remain high, housing is expensive and political polarization remains strong,” continues this researcher.

Discouragement

The demographic evolution of South Korea, a country of 51 million inhabitants, however works in favor of Mr. Yoon: voters aged 60 and over, considered more conservative, are more numerous than those aged twenty or thirty years old.

The abstention rate promises to be massive among young people, many of whom say they are discouraged by a political class dominated by elderly men who ignore their concerns such as the cost of housing or job insecurity.

Many believe that this failing was blatantly highlighted during the tragic Halloween stampede in Seoul in October 2022 which left more than 150 dead, mainly young people. The tragedy was attributed to a cascade of negligence on the part of the authorities.

The tone of the campaign also turned off many voters. Substantive political debate has been nonexistent, replaced by calls to “jail” Lee or “punish” Yoon, hate speech and online misinformation that, experts fear, could lead to other physical attacks like the one in which Mr Lee was victimized in January.

Lame duck or dead duck

A new party, the Rebuild Korea Party, has recently surged in the polls, capitalizing on discontent with both the government and opposition.

It is led by a former Minister of Justice, Cho Kuk, sentenced to two years in prison for having falsified documents in order to facilitate his children’s access to prestigious universities. He appealed the judgment.

The program of his anti-system party is very meager, but polls put it neck and neck with Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP). Enough to transform him into a kingmaker in Parliament.

“I will make President Yoon a lame duck, then a dead duck,” Mr. Cho boasted to AFP.

Lee Jae-myung is the subject of numerous legal investigations, notably for a corruption case linked to a company suspected of having illegally transferred eight million dollars to North Korea. He denies all the accusations.

As for President Yoon, he is embroiled in a controversy regarding his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

South Korea’s first lady was tricked by a left-wing pastor who filmed her on a hidden camera while giving her a luxury Dior handbag, violating rules banning political leaders and their spouses from receiving gifts. gifts worth more than $750.

Polls cited by the Yonhap news agency suggest that the score of all opposition parties combined could reach or exceed 200 seats. A “super-majority” of two-thirds which would allow them to thwart the president’s right of veto, or even dismiss him.

South Koreans had the opportunity to vote early on Friday and Saturday, which 13.8 million out of 44.2 million voters, including President Yoon, chose to do.