South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to make changes to his conservative administration after opposition parties won Wednesday’s National Assembly elections, South Korean media reported.
The Democratic Party (DP) is projected to win 175 of the 300 seats in the new assembly, according to the National Election Commission and network broadcasters, after all votes are counted.
The breakaway Liberal Party, considered allied to the DP, is projected to win 12 seats, leaving the bloc short of the 200 seats needed for a supermajority. Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) was expected to win 108 seats. The official announcement of the results is due later on Thursday.
DP leader Lee Jae-myung, who campaigned vigorously against Yoon, said the top priority now is to work for an economic recovery that will be felt by the average consumer. DP leader Lee Jae-myung said:
“When voters chose me, it was your judgement 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.”
Lee defeated a conservative candidate seen as a key ally of Yoon to take the seat in the city of Incheon, west of the capital Seoul.
Wednesday’s election was widely seen as an interim vote of confidence for Yoon, a former top prosecutor who beat Lee by a narrow margin to take his post in 2022 for one five-year term.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and other top aides submitted their resignations. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has also resigned from his post.
Yoon has been suffering from low approval ratings for months amid voter dissatisfaction with rising prices and a series of corruption scandals and his failure to implement his political programme. Failure in the election is likely to further tie his hands domestically.
