By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President-elect Lee Myung-bak ranked first in votes in 13 of the 16 big cities and provinces across the country, winning a landside victory.
Furthermore, this is the first time that one candidate took first place in all 25 districts such as Gangnam Ward and Seodaemun Ward in the capital, Seoul.
Excluding Gwangju and North and South Jeolla provinces, he gained the majority votes in other cities and regions including Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Ulsan, Gyeonggi, South Chungcheong, Gangwon and Jeju.
But regionalism, which has dominated the country's electoral trends for decades, still featured in the 2007 presidential election by somewhat dividing the west and east.
Lee of the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) recorded support of about 70 percent among residents in Daegu, Busan, North Gyeongsang Province and South Gyeongsang Province.
In contrast, the approval rate of the former Seoul mayor stood at around 15 percent in Gwangju, North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces. Lee grew up in North Gyeongsang Province.
Regionalism was manifested again in the Gwangju-Jeolla region. Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) took the lead with support of about 80 percent, though he ranked third in Daegu-Busan-Gyeongsang. He was born in Sunchang, North Jeolla Province.
Many surveys have showed that about 25 percent of voters believed that regionalism would be the most influential factor in the presidential election.
As Lee Myung-bak's win grew more likely after the prosecution cleared him of allegations connecting him to a 2001 stock price manipulation scandal on Dec. 5, rival candidates began all-out negative campaigns with the intention of undermining the leading candidate.
He enjoyed an unusually high popularity rate of around 40 percent throughout the election year, with his rivals trailing far behind in approval ratings.
Rivals' accusations against Lee led to the launch of an independent investigation into his alleged connection to the scandal which may hinder the new president's running of state affairs.
Should the independent counsel complete reinvestigation before Lee's inauguration on Feb. 25, he could be summoned to the prosecution as the Election Law does not provide a president-elect with immunity.
Political analysts expect mudslinging to continue into next year, due to the looming reinvestigation result and the National Assembly elections slated for April.