[KB] Korea Rides The Saenuri Wave In By-Elections

[Kaleidoscope]

Great Win for Saenuri Party, Great Loss for New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) ; Opposition Gets Swept Away

source: http://www.koreabang.com/2015/stories/korea-rides-the-saenuri-wave-in-by-elections.html

 

Despite the unfavorable Sung Wan-jong situation, the Saenuri Party sweeps the elections in major cities and the ruling party maintains its political hold.

The opposition reboots with Pro-Park Corruption Gate, Moon Jae-in’s fatal blow.

Independent Chun Jung-bae downplays talk of Honam reform… Jung Dong-young fails to win seat.

The Saenuri Park government, entering the second half of the [5-year] presidential term, did better than expected in the local elections held April 29th.

The Saenuri Party participated in 4 local by-elections, with three of its candidates coming out victorious in Gwanak (Seoul), Seo-gu (Incheon), and Seongnam (Gyeonggi-do). NDAP defector turned independent candidate Chun Jung-bae won in Ganghwa (Incheon).

 

The Saenuri Party swept three city districts, while Chung Dong-young’s last minute defect caused a split in liberal votes, and led to the opposition party’s shocking defeat in Gwanak, considered “traditional soil†where their candidates have been unbeaten in the last 27 years.

Moreover, despite unfavorable conditions in the Park administration, all the Saenuri candidates won their elections.

According to the National Election Commission, the prime battleground for this election was in Gwanak Eul [seoul], where Saenuri’s Oh Shin-hwan won 43.9% of the vote, followed by NPAD’s Jang Tae-ho (34.2%), and Independent Jung Dong-young (20.2%). Oh Shin-hwan enjoyed winning the “gold badge†of the congressman for the first time.

[…]

Given today’s election results, Saenuri holds 160 seats in the National Assembly, up from 157 (130 regional and 27 representative). NPAD maintains their original 109 seats (109 regional, 21 representatives), and Independents gained 3 seats. The remaining 5 lawmakers were from the Justice Party.

The biggest factor working against Saenuri today was the Sung Wan-jong scandal, which seems to have had a large effect on voters nationwide. In particular, in this third year of their term, Park Geun-hye’s government has pushed forward measures to reform the pension plans of public servants, gaining political momentum in the process.

Representative Kim Mu-sung kept this trend of support up by going around the country under the banner of the Saejumma (Saenuri + ajumma) who always work hard to keep local issues in mind. This by-election was the first test for him, and the overwhelming victory has put him in a strong position for solidifying his leadership within the party, as well as setting himself up as a strong Saenuri presidential candidate.

This by-election is particularly relevant, and if seen as a prelude to the 20th general election next year, this “3 city victory†by the Saenuri party carries great significance.

On the other hand, there is an increasing chance that the NPAD, who is pushing for a special investigation into the Pro-Park corruption scandal, will hand over the leadership to the ruling party and go on the defensive.

The leadership will seemingly descend into chaos as responsibility for the defeat in the elections becomes an issue, inevitably dealing a considerable blow to Moon Jae-in for the title of presidential candidate in his face-off against Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung.

Above all, as the leading opposition’s position has been fatally shaken in their traditional stronghold of Honam it seems the leading party’s will be making political reforms.

On the other hand, there was a 36% voter turnout for this election. This was 3.1% higher than the turnout for the July 30 election last year, and the analysts surmise this is because the initial prediction of a “close election†boosted interest in the election.

 

[Kaleidoscope]

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