The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is headed for an unprecedented landslide victory in Wednesday's local elections for governors, mayors and councilors, with its candidates leading the ballot in six of the seven metropolitan mayoral races, including those in Seoul and Busan.
GNP candidates are also leading in six of the nine gubernatorial races by a large margin, according to the National Election Commission.
The ruling Uri Party is ahead only in one gubernatorial race in the southern province of North Jeolla Province, while the minor opposition Democratic Party's candidates are leading a mayoral election in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, and a gubernatorial race in South Jeolla Province, which surrounds Gwangju, commission officials said.
In the race for Seoul mayor, the most important locally elected post being contested, GNP candidate Oh Se-hoon was maintaining an overwhelming lead over Uri Party candidate Kang Kum-sil by nearly 35 percentage points, or over 250,000 votes, as of 11 p.m.
Wednesday, when 18.9 percent of votes were counted.
GNP candidates are expected to sweep two other important elected posts in the vicinity of Seoul -- those of Incheon mayor and Gyeonggi Province governor.
The GNP candidate running for mayor of Daejeon, a city some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, was slightly ahead of his Uri Party rival, while another fiercely contested race for governor of the southern island of Jeju between a GNP candidate and an independent will go to the wire due to an extremely slight margin in votes.
Such a sweeping victory is almost unprecedented, not only for the main opposition party, but for any political party in the country, according to political observers.
"The election results should be seen as the ruling party's complete defeat, rather than as a GNP victory," former Prime Minister Goh Kun said, after the release of exit poll results, which forecast the main opposition party would win at least 11 of the 16 gubernatorial and metropolitan mayoral posts up for grabs.
The ruling party appeared to be severely shocked though it had long anticipated a lackluster performance.
"(The party) humbly accepts the public sentiment shown in votes," Uri Party Chairman Chung Dong-young told reporters.
"As the party chairman who led the election (campaigning) I feel fully responsible," he said, adding that he would announce his official position at a party meeting to be held Thursday.
The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae also appeared to be in a state of shock.
"We have long predicted before the elections that the ruling party would lose," a Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity.
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap)
Main opposition party set to sweep South Korea's local elections |
