South Korea opposition wins landslide parliamentary vote in resounding blow to Yoon

SEOUL: Liberal opposition parties win big in South Korea's parliamentary election, dealing blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol.

South Korea's liberal opposition parties scored a landslide victory in a parliamentary election held on Wednesday, April 10,2024, dealing a resounding blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative party but likely falling just short of a super majority.

The Democratic Party (DP) was projected to take more than 170 of the 300 seats in the new legislature, data by the National Election Commission and network broadcasters showed with more than 99% of the votes counted as of 5:55 a.m. on Thursday (2055 GMT Wednesday).

A splinter liberal party considered allied with the DP was expected to take at least 10 seats, projections showed.

"When voters chose me, it was your judgment against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and you are giving the Democratic Party the duty to take responsibility for the livelihood of the people and create a better society," DP leader Lee Jae-myung said.

Mr. Lee won a seat in the city of Incheon to the west of the capital, Seoul, against a conservative heavyweight candidate considered a major ally of the president.

The bitterly fought race was seen by some analysts as a referendum on Mr. Yoon, whose popularity has suffered amid a cost-of-living crisis and a spate of political scandals.

"Judgment" was the common theme running through comments by opposition victors, many of whom had campaigned heavily focused on what they said was Yoon's mismanagement of the economy and his refusal to acknowledge his wife acted improperly when she accepted a Dior bag as gift.