Conservatism Sweeps Korea
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Conservatism sweeps the country as the Grand National Party (GNP), other conservative splinters and independents secured about 180 out of the 299 seats in the 18th National Assembly elections Wednesday.
If conservative forces unite, they will be able to change the Constitution without agreement from opposition lawmakers who are likely to struggle to stop possible unilateral changes.
Progressive parties and many self-proclaimed reform-minded lawmakers, on the other hand, failed to sustain their parliamentary seats defeated by conservative rivals.
The elections, meanwhile, showed again that regionalism dividing the east and west for decades is still prevalent as UDP runners swept votes in the southwestern Jeolla region, while GNP candidates did well in the southeastern Gyeongsang provinces.
In the Chungcheong provinces, the Liberty Forward Party which merged with the Chungcheong-based People First Party won most of seats up for grabs in the elections.
Voters in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi area also indicated a strong tendency to vote together. The conservative GNP won in about 40 neck-and-neck races in the capital area of 111 districts.
With the GNP gaining a majority on its own for the first time in 20 years, President Lee Myung-bak is expected to receive helping hands to push through his reform agendas, said a political analyst.
``Clearly, having a majority in the Assembly will help Lee immensely in pushing his agenda on a range of issues,'' said Andy Jackson who teaches American government in the Lakeland College bridge program at Ansan College in Gyeonggi Province. ``A friendly legislature will help him by providing a budget to pay for his projects.''
A powerful governing party is also expected to give the President a boost to overcome legal obstacles to push his controversial cross-country waterway project to link Seoul and Busan and planned economic reforms to cut taxes and deregulate business.
Also, the GNP's majority of seats will likely give him quick approval for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
``With a friendly legislature, if some action he wishes to take is illegal, he can simply have the law changed. With regards to the canal project, I can imagine that there will likely have to be a few adjustments in environmental and other laws to accommodate it,'' the professor said.
The GNP majority in the legislature, however, cannot guarantee almighty power for Lee to push through reform agenda, if they widely recieve negative public opinion.
``The party will be reluctant to commit long-term suicide by consistently supporting unpopular measures. Lee will need to maintain public support for his proposals or he will see GNP members become reluctant to support him,'' Jackson said.
He continued, ``The last two years of the Roh Moo-hyun administration were plagued by strained relations between the President and segments of his party. That is something Lee will want to avoid.''
Voters residing in Seoul and nearby satellite cities turned out to be decisive factors to determine victory of conservative forces.
Progressive forces are stuck in the mire in the Assembly elections as most of their candidates failed to seek re-election.
The minority Democratic Labor Party (DLP) which won a total of 10 seats including eight proportional representation seats in previous Assembly elections barely gained five seats after suffering internal factional feud.
The New Progressive Party (NPP) split from the DLP also had difficulties gaining its goal of four seats. Its representative candidate Roh Hoe-chan tried to fish for votes in the Nowon district, Seoul, but eventually was defeated by GNP runner Hong Jung-wook who received about 45 percent of support.