Tightest races went down to mat
Published: 05 Jun. 2014, 21:21
In Gyeonggi, the ruling Saenuri Party’s Nam Kyung-pil, a five-term lawmaker from Suwon in Gyeonggi, and the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s Kim Jin-pyo waged a seesaw race that became the final of the 17 main mayoral and gubernatorial races to be declared early yesterday morning.
Although Kim outpaced Nam by 2 percentage points in the joint exit poll of broadcasting stations, Nam won by a margin of 0.8 percentage point to succeed incumbent Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo, a Saenuri Party member who is considered to be a potential presidential candidate.
The victory also made Nam, part of a younger generation within his party, a possible presidential contender in 2017.
“I will accept the victory with a heavy heart,” he said yesterday. “I will respect the opposition party and will try to prioritize discussions when it comes to governance.”
The gap between Lee Si-jong, the re-elected North Chungcheong governor from the NPAD, and rival Yoon Jin-sik of the ruling Saenuri Party narrowed to as many as three votes at one time.
Lee eventually beat Yoon by a margin of 2.1 percentage points - 49.8 percent versus 47.7 percent. Lee and Yoon, both from Chungju in North Chungcheong, are friends of 50 years.
Four posts in Chungcheong - North and South Chungcheong governors and the mayors of Daejeon and Sejong City - were won by the NPAD, which neither of the main parties had forecasted.
Daejeon and Sejong were considered to belong to the Saenuri.
Lee Wan-koo, floor leader of the Saenuri, said the party’s defeat in the region is probably due to discontent by civil servants over President Park Geun-hye’s plan to eradicate red tape in bureaucracy. Sejong is an administrative hub, or a mini-capital city for Korea, with the majority of its ministries located there.
In Gangwon, the NPAD’s Choi Moon-soon and Saenuri’s Choi Heung-jip exchanged top spots several times in the course of ballot counting. The former defeated the latter by a 1.6 percentage margin.
Even before the count, particularly tight matches had been expected for the governor of Gyeonggi, a region near Seoul that is considered to be a barometer of national opinion - as well as the governor of North Chungcheong, located in the center of South Korea.
But Busan, a traditional stronghold of conservatives, deviated from predictions. Suh Byung-soo of the Saenuri saw his victory confirmed way past midnight following a tight match against independent candidate Oh Keo-don, who has contested the post three times in vain. Although Suh won, their gap was merely 1.3 percentage points. Suh, an economics Ph.D., is a member of the Park faction of the Saenuri Party. Both are Sogang University alumni.
The later-than-usual ballot count was largely due to the early voting system and its logistics, according to the Korea National Election Commission.
BY SEO JI-EUN [spring@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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