Lee Jae-myung
South Korea’s liberal opposition parties won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election held on Wednesday, inflicting a crushing blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative party while possibly falling just short of a super-majority.
According to the figures from the National Election Commission and network broadcasters, the Democratic Party (DP) was expected to win more than 170 of the 300 seats in the next legislature, with over 99% of the votes counted as of 5:55 a.m. on Thursday.
A dissident liberal party thought to be affiliated with the DP was predicted to win at least ten seats.
Some experts saw the tightly contested race as a referendum on Yoon, whose popularity has plummeted amid a cost-of-living crisis and a slew of political scandals.
His People Power Party (PPP) was expected to gain slightly more than 100 seats, allowing Yoon would avoid the super-majority of a two-third opposition control, which could overturn presidential vetoes and pass constitutional amendments.
The National Election Commission (NEC) was scheduled to release the official results later on Thursday.
As per NEC, about 29.7 million individuals, or 67% of eligible voters, voted, with 14 million casting their ballots in early voting last week.
The turnout was the greatest ever for the legislative election, however, it was lower than the 2022 presidential election, which narrowly elected Yoon.
Yoon, who entered office in May 2022, was not up for election this time, but his PPP’s dismal performance is likely to affect his capacity to pass legislation.
He has had dismal approval ratings for months, stifling his efforts to slash cut taxes, ease business regulations, and boost family support in the world’s fastest-aging society.
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