Ruling party wins landslide in local elections

Lee Jun-seok, center in front row, chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), claps as exit poll results appear on TV, Wednesday, after voting for the local and by-elections ended. Other ranking PPP members, who gathered at the National Assembly, celebrated as the party was predicted to win big in the elections. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Main opposition party's Kim Dong-yeon wins Gyeonggi Province governorship

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) clinched a resounding victory in Wednesday's local elections, giving the newly inaugurated government of President Yoon Suk-yeol an added mandate to push forward with its agenda.

The PPP won 12 out of 17 key races for big city mayors and provincial governors, including Seoul, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) won only five key races, including three in its stronghold of the Jeolla provinces.

The biggest battleground was Gyeonggi Province where the DPK candidate, Kim Dong-yeon, came from behind to beat his PPP rival, Kim Eun-hye, by 0.14 percentage points, with 99.67 percent of the vote counted as of 7:20 a.m., Thursday.

In Seoul, current Mayor Oh Se-hoon was reelected, while the PPP's Yoo Jeong-bok won the race for Incheon mayor.

The PPP also took the governorships of both Chungcheong provinces, both Gyeongsang provinces, Gangwon Province, and the mayor posts of the central cities of Sejong and Daejeon, as well as the southeastern cities of Daegu, Ulsan and Busan.

"I think that we have completed the real change of the government by winning the local elections after the presidential election victory," PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong said. "We will work harder to realize the wishes of the people with a humble attitude."

PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok also expressed his thanks to the people.

From left are Park Ji-hyun, interim co-leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK); Lee Jae-myung of the DPK who ran in the by-election in Incheon's Gyeyang-B electoral district; Yun Ho-jung, interim co-leader of the party; and its floor leader Park Hong-keun. They look devastated as exit poll results appear on TV at the National Assembly Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

"We are deeply grateful for all the support the people have given us," Lee said. "More than anything else, we are grateful that we were given a chance to take over a considerable part of regional administration following the presidential election victory."

The DPK won only four races ― for the mayor of Gwangju and the governorships of both Jeolla provinces and Jeju.

"I think we received our second punishment after the presidential election," said DPK interim chief Park Ji-hyun. "The results were worse than we thought."

The elections took place less than a month after President Yoon Suk-yeol took office. The results, when finalized, are expected to significantly strengthen the mandate of the new government as it pushes its agenda in its first year.

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Up for grabs in this year's local elections were positions for 17 metropolitan mayors and provincial governors, 226 lower-level administrative leadership positions, 872 seats in provincial and metropolitan councils, as well as 2,988 in lower-level local councils.

Also at stake were seven National Assembly seats in by-elections.

The DPK's former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung was elected to the National Assembly representing Incheon's Gyeyang-B district. Lee was also the chief of the DPK's campaign for local elections.

Despite his own victory, Lee was far from celebratory.

"I will humbly accept the stern rebuke the people have given us," Lee said of the party's defeat during a TV interview at his election office. "I will do my best to regain the people's confidence and receive love from them again."

In another by-election, Ahn Cheol-soo of the PPP, who withdrew from the presidential race to endorse Yoon, secured the seat representing the Bundang-A district of Seongnam, just south of Seoul, after beating Kim Byoung-gwan of the DPK.

The results show that the PPP succeeded in riding the momentum from March's presidential election victory.

Yoon's successful summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and firm response to recent North Korean provocations are believed to have helped the PPP make its case with voters, especially those seeking more stabilized operations of the Yoon administration.

The PPP's victory will also help the Yoon administration's agenda, though the DPK still holds a majority in the National Assembly.

For the DPK, the results dealt a big blow to recover from their presidential election defeat and expand its power across the nation to keep the Yoon government in check.

The defeat comes after the DPK reeled from a recent internal feud, which was sparked by the DPK co-interim chief Park Ji-hyun's call for a sweeping reform of the party, and a sexual misconduct case involving one of its lawmakers.

In the run-up to Wednesday's elections, the PPP and the DPK had been wrangling over various issues, from an extra budget bill to support pandemic-hit small merchants to a proposal for merging Gimpo International Airport's operations with those of Incheon International Airport.

Voting took place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 14,465 polling centers nationwide, all eligible voters except for COVID-19 patients and those in self-isolation were able to cast their ballots from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Vote counting began around 8:40 p.m. at 255 ballot counting stations.

Tentative turnout for this year's local elections was tallied at 50.9 percent, the second-lowest ever for local elections, as 22.5 million of 44.3 million eligible voters cast ballots, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).

Despite registering a record early voting turnout of 20.62 percent, the final turnout came in far lower than the 60.2 percent logged in the 2018 local elections. (Yonhap)