South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the left-leaning Democratic Party appeared on track to win the election by a landslide, exit polls showed yesterday, with turnout high after months of political chaos.
Six months to the day after former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol plunged the country into crisis with his disastrous declaration of martial law, an exit poll by the three major broadcasters showed Lee with 51.7 percent of the vote.
Conservative challenger Kim Moon-soo was on track to win 39.3 percent, the poll showed.
Photo: AFP
After months of turmoil and a revolving door of lame-duck acting leaders, many South Koreans were eager for the country to move forward, with major polls for weeks putting Lee well ahead of Kim.
“I hope the next president will create an atmosphere of peace and unity rather than ideological warfare,” cab driver Choi Sung-wook, 68, said as he cast his ballot.
South Korea’s next leader is to take office almost immediately — as soon as the National Election Commission finishes counting the votes and validates the result, likely early today.
Photo: AP
He will face a bulging in-tray, including global trade vicissitudes chafing the export-driven economy, some of the world’s lowest birthrates and an emboldened North Korea rapidly expanding its military arsenal.
However, the fallout from Yoon’s martial law declaration, which has left South Korea effectively leaderless for the first months of US President Donald Trump’s tumultuous second term, was the decisive factor in the election, experts said.
The vote was “largely viewed as a referendum on the previous administration,” said Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women’s University.
“The martial law and impeachment crisis not only swayed moderates, but also fractured the conservative base,” Kang said.
Conservative candidate Kim — Yoon’s labor minister — failed to convince a third-party candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, to unify and avoid splitting the right-wing vote.
Yoon’s impeachment over his martial law bid, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament, made him the second straight conservative president to be stripped of office after Park Geun-hye in 2017.
Many voters said they had been shocked by his attempt to suspend civilian rule.
It “was the kind of thing done during the old days of dictatorship in our country,” said Park Dong-shin, 79, adding that he cast his ballot for the candidate who would make sure those responsible were “properly dealt with.”
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