South Korea’s opposition was heading toward a landslide victory in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, exit polls indicated, in a major blow to President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The outcome, if confirmed, would at the very least leave Yoon as a lame duck for the three remaining years of his term in office, and could even open the way for his impeachment.
The Democratic Party of Lee Jae-myung — survivor of a January knife attack by a disgruntled voter — and its satellites are forecast to win as many as 197 seats, up from 156 in the last parliament.
Photo: AFP
Yoon’s People Power Party and its partner were projected to be trailing on between 85 and 99 seats, down from 114, the exit polls conducted by three major broadcasters indicated.
All opposition parties combined might even secure a super-majority of 200 in the 300-seat parliament, which could in theory allow them to attempt to remove Yoon from office before his term ends in 2027.
That includes the new Rebuilding Korea party, led by former South Korean minister of justice Cho Kuk, which capitalized on discontent with the two main parties to pick up a projected 12 to 14 seats.
“The people have won, the will to judge the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is very clear,” Cho said after the vote, local media reported.
On the campaign trail, he vowed to make Yoon “first a lame duck, then a dead duck.”
“The figures today show the strong anger of people at Yoon for his two-year governance,” political analyst Yum Seung-yul said.
Yoon beat Lee in South Korea’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.
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