SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥 South Korea鈥檚 liberal opposition parties appeared set to win a landslide victory in Wednesday鈥檚 parliamentary election, vote counts showed, a result that could make conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for his remaining three years in office.
With most of the votes cast counted, the main opposition Democratic Party and its satellite party appear to have won a combined 175 seats in the 300-member 好色tv Assembly. Another small liberal opposition party was expected to win 12 seats under a proportional representation system, according to South Korean media tallies.
Yoon's ruling People Power Party and its satellite party were projected to have obtained 109 seats.
The final official results were expected later Thursday.
But the outcome means the liberal opposition forces would extend their control of the parliament, though they will likely fail to garner the super majority of 200 seats that gives them legislative powers to pass bills vetoed by a president and even impeach him or her.
Wednesday鈥檚 election was widely seen as a mid-term confidence vote on Yoon, a former top prosecutor who took office in 2022 for a single five-year term.
He has pushed hard to boost cooperation with the U.S. and Japan as a way to address a mix of tough security and economic challenges. But Yoon has been grappling with low approval ratings at home and a liberal opposition-controlled parliament that has limited his major policy platforms.
Regardless of the results, Yoon will stay in power and his major foreign policies will likely be unchanged. But the ruling party鈥檚 big election defeat could set back Yoon鈥檚 domestic agenda and leave him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents.
Exit polls sponsored by South Korea's major TV stations earlier predicted a bigger win by the opposition parties.
鈥淲e did our best to do politics that follow public sentiments, but results of exit polls are disappointing,鈥 ruling party Han Dong-hoon said in televised comments. 鈥淲e鈥檒l watch ballot counting to the end.鈥
After gathering to watch TV broadcasts showing results of the exit polls, Democratic Party members cheered and clapped their hands. 鈥淲e鈥檒l humbly watch the people鈥檚 choices to the end. Thanks much!鈥 party leader Lee Jae-myung told reporters.
Of the 300 seats, 254 will be elected through direct votes in local districts, and the other 46 to the parties according to their proportion of the vote. The final voter turnout for South Korea鈥檚 44 million eligible voters was tentatively estimated at 67%, the highest for a parliamentary election since 1992, according to the 好色tv Election Commission.
Ahead of the election, the conservatives and their liberal rivals exchanged toxic rhetoric and mudslinging. Their mutual contempt deepened during the , during which Yoon and Lee, then the Democratic Party candidate, spent months demonizing each other. in the country鈥檚 most closely fought presidential contest.
Lee is now a harsh critic of Yoon鈥檚 policies and is eyeing another presidential bid. His main potential conservative rival in the next presidential race is Han, an ally of Yoon who served as his justice minister. Lee faces an array of that he argues are politically motivated and pushed by by Yoon鈥檚 government.
There was brief soul-searching about South Korea鈥檚 divisive politics after in the neck in January by a man who, according to police, tried to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming president. But as the parliamentary election approached, the rival parties began churning out abusive rhetoric and crude insults against each other.
During the election campaigning, Han called Lee 鈥渁 criminal鈥 and labeled his past comments as 鈥渢rash.鈥 Lee鈥檚 party spokesperson described Han鈥檚 mouth as a 鈥渢rash bin.鈥 Han accused Lee of using a sexist remark against a female ruling party candidate.
Chung Jin-young, a former dean of the Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies at Kyung Hee University, predicted that the opposition parties could win a combined 150 to 180 seats.
鈥淭hat would cause a political deadlock for the Republic of Korea for the next three years, as both the ruling and opposition parties can鈥檛 pursue things unilaterally and won鈥檛 likely make terms with each other,鈥 Chung said.
Earlier this year, Yoon saw rising approval ratings over his strong push to drastically increase the number of despite vehement protests by incumbent doctors. Yoon has said he aims to create more doctors to brace for the country鈥檚 rapidly aging population, but thousands of young doctors have gone on strike, saying that schools can鈥檛 handle an abrupt increase in students.
The doctors鈥 walkouts eventually left Yoon facing growing calls to find a , with patients and others experiencing delays of surgeries and other inconveniences. Yoon鈥檚 ruling party has also been struggling with rising prices of agricultural products and other goods and criticism of Yoon鈥檚 personnel management style.
鈥淭his election is an assessment of Yoon鈥檚 presidency. The stakes for him are whether he鈥檚 able to fully implement his liberal democratic agenda, which is his top priority,鈥 Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said. 鈥淗e and his party have criticized the previous progressive party for democratic backsliding.鈥
