By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
Two of President Lee Myung-bak’s closest confidants defeated opposition party candidates in the by-elections Wednesday, providing fresh momentum to the newly elected leadership of the governing party and the major initiatives of the Lee administration, observers say.
Campaign watchers said the election outcome can be seen as a major victory for the governing Grand National Party (GNP), given that it performed far better than expected on the home turf of the opposition parties. In the past, opposition parties had prevailed in by-elections.
They also noted that it can be regarded as something of a sweep by the GNP as five of its candidates, including Lee Jae-oh, a close associate of President Lee, and Yoon Jin-shik, the President’s former top policy advisor, secured victories in key battlegrounds.
In the electoral district of Eunpyeong B, Seoul, Lee Jae-oh defeated Chang Sang, a unified candidate of three opposition parties and a former Ewha Womans University president.
Lee won in the district, where he had been elected for three consecutive terms until losing in the 2008 National Assembly elections to Moon Kook-hyun, then leader of the minor opposition Creative Korea Party. Moon was stripped of his seat over irregularities last year.
A total of eight parliamentary seats were up for grabs because of Moon’s circumstances, the death of a lawmaker and six others who were either involved in illegalities or resigned over the past year.
In the battleground of Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Yoon defeated his rival Jung Gi-young of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), who has been vocally critical of the Lee administration’s four-river refurbishment project.
The GNP candidates Lee Sang-kwon, Kim Ho-yeon, Han Ki-ho also defeated their opposition rivals in Incheon, a neighboring city of Seoul; Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province; and a district in Gangwon Province, respectively.
The main opposition DP only managed to win in two constituencies in Gangwon Province and one in Gwangju, where the GNP did not field a candidate.
More voters than expected showed up at the polls, despite it being the peak holiday season, reflecting a spike in political interest among citizens here.
Of 1.36 million eligible voters in eight constituencies, some 465,000, or 34.1 percent, had cast a ballot, up 9.3 percentage points from the 24.8 percent recorded during the same time in the last summer by-elections held in 2006, according to the National Election Commission.
Earlier, the election watchdog forecast that the turnout of Wednesday’s elections would not exceed 30 percent, given that they were held on a weekday during the summer holidays.
By region, the voter turnouts of the two constituencies in Gangwon Province were tallied at 47.5 and 45.1 percent, followed by that of Chungju with 43.6 and Eunpyeong with 40.5 percent.
Political analysts say DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun’s party leadership is likely to be challenged due to the disappointing campaign results.
As a result, the GNP now commands 172 seats in the 299-member legislature, while the DP has 87.
At the July 14 National Convention, the GNP agreed to a merger with the Future Hope Party, which holds eight parliamentary seats. Thus it will control an absolute majority of 180.