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| President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol raises his fist during a campaigning event in Seomun Market in Daegu, Tuesday, ahead of the 2022 presidential election held on Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun |
By Lee Hyo-jin
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's landslide victory in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province was somewhat surprising for many, considering his bitter relations with ex-president Park Geun-hye, whose political stronghold was Daegu.
Conservative People Power Party's presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol eventually emerged victorious in Wednesday's election against his rival, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, by a razor-thin margin of less than 1 percent point. Yoon garnered 48.56 percent of the vote, while Lee brought in 47.83 percent.
But the tightest race in the Korean presidential election history could have ended unfavorably for Yoon if it weren't for the strong support he gained from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the only regions where he garnered over 70 percent of the vote.
In Daegu, Yoon earned 75.4 percent of the vote, far outpacing Lee who received 21.41 percent. In the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, Yoon obtained 72.99 percent, while Lee drew 23.61 percent.
Although these regions are traditionally political strongholds of the conservative party, Yoon showed relatively low approval ratings there, as he had played a key role in ousting conservative former President Park in 2016.
Daegu is the birthplace of Park, and where she won four consecutive parliamentary terms between 1998 and 2012.
Prosecutor-turned-politician Yoon rose to prominence for indicting Park on corruption, abuse of power and bribery charges, which eventually led to her impeachment and imprisonment.
As such, he failed to win the support of Park's supporters during the party's primary, and her release from prison after being granted a special pardon in December further put him in an awkward position.
Polls conducted in the first week of March showed that Yoon's approval rating from Daegu and North Gyeongsang was around 60 percent, much lower than the voting rates of the previous two presidents from the conservative bloc ― Park's 80.48 percent and Lee Myung-bak's 70.97 percent.
However, Yoon succeeded in securing over 70 percent of the votes from the region in Wednesday's election.
Critics say this was "a result of the strategic voting of Park's supporters, who longed for a change of presidential power."
"It's hard to say that strong supporters of the ex-president in Gyeongsang Province wholeheartedly support Yoon. They have remained reluctant concerning his candidacy since the primary," said Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University.
"But they knew very well that choosing Yoon was the only way to win the election and bring the power back to the conservative bloc. It was tactical," he said.
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