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Agence France-Presse

<p>SEOUL — Near-total vote results showed South Korea&#x27;s opposition was set to strengthen its parliamentary majority, news agency Yonhap reported Thursday, in a major blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol.</p><div><br/></div><p>With nearly all of Wednesday&#x27;s votes tallied, the opposition Democratic Party (DP) and its satellite party were on course to win 176 of the country&#x27;s 300 National Assembly seats.</p><div><br/></div><p>The outcome, if confirmed, will leave Yoon as a lame duck for the three remaining years of his term in office.</p><div><br/></div><p>Yoon&#x27;s People Power Party (PPP), however, looked set to hang on to enough seats to prevent an opposition-led super-majority, which could have opened the door for the president&#x27;s impeachment.</p><div><br/></div><p>The DP won 161 seats that were directly up for grabs, Yonhap said, and was along with its partner projected to secure 16 more after accounting for seats decided on a proportional basis.</p><div><br/></div><p>The PPP won just 90 seats directly, and was reportedly headed to capture 109 seats along with its satellite party.</p><div><br/></div><div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="3002108"></ivs-player></div><script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script><p>Also in play was the new Rebuilding Korea party, led by former justice minister Cho Kuk, which capitalized on discontent with the two main parties to pick up a projected 12-14 seats.</p><div><br/></div><p>&quot;The figures today show the strong anger of people at Yoon for his two-year governance,&quot; political analyst Yum Seung-yul told AFP as exit polls came in Wednesday.</p><div><br/></div><p>&quot;What if he won&#x27;t change even with this stunning election outcome? I think there will be even more public anger and that worries me.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Lee&#x27;s revenge</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Yoon beat Lee in South Korea&#x27;s closest-ever presidential election in 2022 and has taken a tough line with the nuclear-armed North while improving ties with Washington and former colonial occupier Japan.</p><div><br/></div><p>But Lee, while fending off a slew of graft probes he says are politically motivated, has secured revenge with the election result following a bruising and polarising campaign.</p><div><br/></div><p>From the start of his presidency, Yoon has been unpopular, with ratings hitting the low 30s, and the PPP&#x27;s lack of control of the National Assembly stymying his socially conservative legislative agenda.</p><div><br/></div><p>This includes planned healthcare reforms — that are backed by voters but have sparked a crippling strike by doctors —  and a pledge to abolish the ministry of gender equality.</p><div><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/3/25/south-korea-s-medical-professors-submit-resignations-and-join-protests-1555" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">READ: S. Korea&#x27;s medical professors submit resignations and join protests</a></div><div><br/></div><p>PPP leader Han Dong-hoon had earlier said that &quot;exit polls are disappointing... We will watch the vote count&quot;, the Yonhap reported.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>No babies</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>On Yoon&#x27;s side were shifting demographics, with voters aged 60 and older now outnumbering those in both their 20s and 30s in a country with the world&#x27;s lowest birth rate.</p><div><br/></div><p>Younger Koreans have been put off politics by a political class dominated by older men who ignore their concerns.</p><div><br/></div><p>Many say this was underlined by the horrific 2022 Halloween crowd crush in Seoul that killed more than 150 mostly young people.</p><div><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/2/why-south-korean-women-aren-t-having-babies-1103" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RELATED: Why South Korean women aren&#x27;t having babies</a></div><div><br/></div><p>The younger generation is also struggling economically, with cut-throat competition in education, fewer job opportunities and sky-high housing costs.</p><div><br/></div><p>&quot;There is definitely less interest in this election among the people around me than last time. I think it is because they feel rather disappointed,&quot; business owner Kim Yong-ho, 24, said outside a polling station in Seoul&#x27;s Gwangjin district.</p><div><br/></div><p>The tone of the campaigning has also put many voters off, lacking in substantive policy debate and marked instead by shrill calls to &quot;imprison&quot; Lee or &quot;punish&quot; Yoon.</p><div><br/></div><p>&quot;I am truly ashamed of our country&#x27;s politics and government,&quot; Kim Do-kyung, 47, an activist for migrant women and their children, told AFP.</p><div><br/></div><p>This has been accompanied by hate speech and disinformation online that experts worry could lead to more attacks like the one on Lee in January and another weeks later.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Onions</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The DP favors a less hawkish approach towards Pyongyang, and Lee has made a number of pro-China remarks. One doctored video showed him bowing to a statue of Mao Zedong.</p><div><br/></div><p>It has also latched onto a gaffe by Yoon last month about the &quot;reasonable&quot; cost of green onions, a staple in Korean cooking that has soared in price.</p><div><br/></div><p>The humble vegetable became a popular prop at DP rallies, and the election commission even banned voters from bringing them to polling stations.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Near-total vote results showed South Korea's opposition was set to strengthen its parliamentary majority, news agency Yonhap reported Thursday, in a major blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol.</p>

Near-total vote results showed South Korea's opposition was set to strengthen its parliamentary majority, news agency Yonhap reported Thursday, in a major blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol.

South Korea opposition set for landslide in parliamentary election

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South Korea opposition set for landslide in parliamentary election

Agence France-Presse

Published Apr 11, 2024 06:51 AM PHT

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