South Korea’s new president gets boost in big election win

SOUTH KOREA President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative party is on path for a decisive victory in elections for leaders of major cities and provinces, a joint exit poll showed, in a show of support for his policies coming just 3 weeks after he took office.

Yoon's People Power Party is expected to take at least 10 of the 17 major posts in elections held on Wednesday (Jun 1) for provincial governors and mayors, including the top job in the 2 biggest cities of Seoul and Busan, a joint exit poll by 3 major TV broadcasters showed.

The Democratic Party, which took 14 of the posts in the last election 4 years ago, was projected to suffer a sharp fall and take at least 4 posts this time, the poll showed. The race for governor of the most populous province of Gyeonggi was too close to call. Final official results are expected late on Wednesday or early Thursday morning.

"The result would boost the political power of Yoon to push parts of his policy agenda," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in Seoul.

Yoon, who took office on May 10 after winning a razor-thin race, has pledged to spur economic growth driven by the private sector, but his policy priorities are hitting a roadblock in the National Assembly, where the Democratic Party holds a solid majority in the parliament. This could force the president and the PPP to try to make changes at the local level, until at least the next elections for parliament in 2024.

One key issue for voters was housing prices that doubled in urban centres such as Seoul during the term of former President Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party -- as wages failed to keep pace. Yoon has pledged to build thousands of housing units and make rents affordable but hasn't been in office long enough to make any real impact.

The mayor of Seoul is considered one of the top elected offices in the country and its current holder, conservative Oh Se-hoon, is expected to retake the office, the polls showed. "I would like to thank those who supported me," the incumbent mayor said just minutes after the exit poll results were released.

The Democratic Party won the races in the 2 biggest cities 4 years ago but the former mayor of Busan, Oh Keo-don, was forced out for sexually assaulting female employees while Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, committed suicide in 2020 when an investigation was closing in on him for sexually harassing his staff members. Oh Keo-don was eventually sent to prison and the conservatives won special elections for the vacant seats in both cities.

If the PPP takes Gyeonggi from the progressive Democratic Party, its members would control the capital and the province encircling it, which is home to nearly half of the country's population and its biggest firms.

"The "PPP's victory would definitely help Yoon to push for his policies, but it does has its limits," said Lee Junhan, a political science professor at Incheon university.

Parliament approved a record extra budget this week that had been forged during the presidential transition. It's likely to be the last round of such fiscal support to offset the economic impact of coronavirus, given escalating inflationary pressure is now the key challenge. BLOOMBERG