4TH LD: S. Korea's opposition GNP wins big in local elections

0 Comments | Asian Political News, June 5, 2006

SEOUL, June 1 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

South Korea's main opposition Grand National Party handed a humiliating defeat to the ruling Uri Party by winning 12 out of 16 contests for either mayor or governors in Wednesday's local elections, according to election returns from the National Election Commission on Thursday.

Candidates from the GNP won in 12 out of seven mayoral posts and nine gubernatorial races, key battlegrounds, including the capital Seoul, Kyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, and the second largest city of Busan.

The ruling Uri Party won only one in North Jeolla Province while an independent candidate won the gubernatorial race in Jeju Province.

After exit polls results showed the GNP's landslide victory, Chung Dong Young, chairman of the Uri Party, said he would be held fully responsible for the election defeat.

''I humbly accept what the public mind was shown by the votes with a heavy heart,'' Chung was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

The minor opposition Democratic Party is set to win two races in Gwangju city and South Jeolla Province, its home turf.

The election results were widely seen as a weathervane for next year's presidential election.

The elections were held amid deepening public disappointment about President Roh Moo Hyun's handling of state affairs.

The approval rating for Roh and the ruling Uri Party has nose-dived over corruption scandals and the sluggish economy.

Roh's five-year single term is to expire in February 2008.

In addition to the 16 key regional posts, over 12,000 candidates contested for 230 heads of lower-level administrative units and 3,621 members of local councils.

In the Seoul mayoral race, 46-year-old Oh Se Hoon from the GNP, a reform-minded lawyer, won over former Justice Minister Kang Kum Sil from the Uri Party.

''My victory is thanks to the wise and objective judgment of people in Seoul,'' Oh said live on television.

A May 20 knife attack on GNP leader Park Geun Hye by an ex-convict also seemed to have tipped the scales in favor of her party, swaying some undecided voters in closely contested areas such as Daejeon and Jeju Province.

Since being discharged from hospital Monday, Park began canvassing in an effort to woo voter support for her party's candidates.

Park, 54, is daughter of the late President Park Jung Hee, who ruled South Korea for 18 years since a military coup in 1961. He was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.

Park is said to be one of the frontrunners in next year's presidential election.

Incumbent Seoul mayor Lee Myung Bak is also said to be seeking the presidency.

Voter turnout for Wednesday's elections was tentatively put at 51.3% of the 37 million eligible voters out of the country's about 48 million people.

Meanwhile, about 6,700 foreigners, who have lived in South Korea over three years since obtaining permanent residency, have been allowed to vote in the local elections for the first time.

Of those eligible foreigner voters, about 6,500 are Taiwanese people.

South Korea's granting of voting rights to foreigners is expected to affect efforts being made by South Korean residents in Japan to vote in elections.