People Power Party secures 12 out of 17 city mayors’ seats, provincial governorships.
South Korea’s ruling party won a majority of seats in Wednesday’s local elections including the key mayor’s seat in the capital Soul, local media said on Thursday.
The People Power Party (PPP) secured 12 out of 17 city mayoral seats and provincial governorships while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) won five key races, including the governorship of Gyeonggi, the province including Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Former DP presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and Ahn Cheol-soo of the PPP also won by-elections for National Assembly seats.
“I take the election results as the people’s call to revive the economy and take better care of their livelihoods,” the agency quoted President Yoon Suk-yeol as saying.
During the local elections over 3,600 local representatives were elected by South Korea, including 17 mayors and provincial governors, 226 lower-level council heads, 779 members of provincial and metropolitan councils, and 2,602 members of lower-level local councils.
According to election authorities, turnout in the Wednesday’s local elections was 50.9% as 22.5 million of 44.3 million eligible voters cast ballots.
In 2018 local elections, the turnout was over 60%.
-AA