SEOUL: The ruling party’s overwhelming parliamentary election victory is expected to provide fresh momentum to President Moon Jae-in’s policy drive during the remainder of his tenure, reported Yonhap News Agency.
In one of the world’s first nationwide elections held amid the coronavirus pandemic, South Koreans awarded a majority of seats to the Democratic Party (DP) and its temporary sister party created for the proportional representation system.
The election was widely seen as a referendum on Moon, who has two more years in office, as he been tackling several challenges — from an economic slowdown to chilled inter-Korean relations and most recently, the virus pandemic.
Despite concerns that the pandemic would dampen voting, tens of millions of people braved the virus to cast their ballots for the quadrennial elections.
More than 29 million were estimated to have voted, leading to a tentative voter turnout of 66.2 per cent, the highest in 28 years.
It ended up as a stunning victory for the DP, which currently has 120 lawmakers in the 300-member National Assembly.
The DP and its sister party, called a satellite party, were poised to secured 180 seats or three-fifths of the total, far outnumbering the projected 103 seats won by the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) and its own sister party.
It means the ruling bloc would be able to fast-track the passage of Bills without support from other parties.
Observers say it would be capable of “doing everything” in parliament except constitutional revision, which requires at least 200 votes on the floor.
It would enable the DP to avoid political squabbles in pushing for key reform bills, unlike during the outgoing session of the National Assembly. – Bernama
