Rival party chiefs make final pitch to voters on last day of campaigning

General election 2024

Published: 09 Apr. 2024, 18:59 Updated: 09 Apr. 2024, 19:17

Rival party chiefs make final pitch to voters on last day of campaigning

An election official holds up a voting stamp in front of a polling station in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, on the eve of Korea's general election on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Campaigning reached a fever pitch on Tuesday as the leaders of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and liberal Democratic Party (DP) made their final appeals to voters heading to the polls the next day to elect the 22nd National Assembly.

The composition of the new 300-member parliament will either empower President Yoon Suk Yeol to pursue his agenda of controversial domestic reforms or render him a lame duck for the remainder of his single five-year term.

At stake in this general election are 254 directly elected regional constituencies and 46 seats selected by party list proportional representation.

Both the PPP and DP spent the last day of the 13-day state-regulated campaign period trying to win over voters in Seoul’s 48 electoral districts, which observers believe hold the key to control of the National Assembly.

People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, second from left, speaks during a campaign rally to support PPP candidates Park Min-sik and Kim Il-ho in Gangseo District, western Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

During his whistle-stop tour through 14 toss-up constituencies in the capital on Tuesday, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon called on undecided voters to lend their support so that his party could win a “minimum” number of seats to keep what he characterized as the “immoral and shameless” DP in check.

Recent predictions suggest that the DP is on track to win a majority, if not a two-thirds supermajority, that might enable it to override presidential vetoes of legislative bills.

Han also criticized DP leader Lee Jae-myung for “shedding crocodile tears” ahead of his hearing on Tuesday at the Seoul Central District Court, where he is being tried on charges of corruption and bribery stemming from his time as governor of Gyeonggi and mayor of Seongnam.

The PPP leader has repeatedly characterized the DP and the allied Rebuilding Korea Party, led by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, as a “corrupt” coalition of “anti-state forces,” a term often invoked by conservatives to portray liberals as North Korea sympathizers.

The last surveys conducted before a blackout on opinion polling came into effect on Thursday showed Cho’s party leading among all parties competing for seats selected by proportional representation.

But with most opinion surveys showing support for the government-aligned PPP only a little higher than the president’s approval ratings, which have hovered under 40 percent for much of the past month, it remains to be seen if voters will heed Han’s calls.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks during a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

At a press conference held before his court hearing, Lee urged voters to repudiate the Yoon administration by voting for the DP.

Accusing the state prosecution service of committing “political interference” by forcing him to appear in court on the last day of campaigning, Lee called on voters to “prevent the forces that have abandoned the people from winning a majority” in the National Assembly.

The DP chief has characterized the government and the PPP as a “dictatorship run by prosecutors” who habitually target liberal rivals for criminal investigation. Both Yoon and Han are former prosecutors.

Lee also accused the Yoon administration of focusing “only on suppressing its political opponents” while neglecting the country’s economy and livelihood issues.

Earlier in the day, Lee visited Incheon, where he is running again to represent the city’s Gyeyang-B constituency.

Both the port city and surrounding Gyeonggi, which are home to 74 constituencies, have favored the DP in recent elections.

Lee and the DP are set to hold their last rally on Tuesday evening in Seoul’s Yongsan District, where the presidential office is located, while Han and the PPP are scheduled to hold their final campaign event at Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul.

Polling stations open at 6 a.m. Wednesday and close twelve hours later.

Reporters gather at a vote tallying station set up inside a gymnasium in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, on Tuesday afternoon as election officials demonstrate how ballots will be counted. [YONHAP]

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]