SEOUL: The ruling Democratic Party (DP) clinched a resounding victory in the local elections and parliamentary by-elections, winning the key mayoralty in the traditional conservative stronghold of Busan, while the main opposition party retained the Seoul mayoral seat, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The DP won 12 out of the 16 key mayoral and gubernatorial seats up for grabs, including in Busan, where Jeon Jae-soo was elected mayor, while the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) took four seats, including Seoul, where incumbent Mayor Oh Se-hoon was elected to a fifth term, according to the final vote count.
Of the total 14 seats contested in the parliamentary by-elections, which were held concurrently with the local elections, the DP clinched nine, followed by the PPP with four seats, while the remaining seat was won by an independent.
Thirteen of the 14 parliamentary seats were previously held by the ruling party, but its loss of four seats was seen as a minor dent to its dominance in the 300-member National Assembly, where it already controls a majority.
Wednesday’s elections were held exactly one year after the Lee administration took office on June 4.
The victory for the ruling party is widely expected to solidify the government’s mandate to push forward with its reform measures while dealing a blow to the embattled PPP as it struggles to rebuild conservative support following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster.
The election outcome marked a sharp turnaround in voter sentiment from four years earlier, when the then ruling PPP had claimed 12 out of 17 major gubernatorial and mayoral positions in the last local elections. The 2022 local elections were held a month after Yoon took office. – BERNAMA-YONHAP
