Overwhelming Victory for Opposition Party; Setback in State Management Expected

The ruling Uri Party completely lost four elections for provincial governors out of local reelections and by-elections conducted on June 5.

The opposition parties won out and out, with the Grand National Party winning in Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island, and the Millennium Democratic Party winning in South Jeolla Province, respectively.

The Uri Party leadership expressed their intention to hand in their resignations tentatively right after a crushing defeat in the local reelections and by-elections called the “mini general elections” as the elections were conducted nationwide. Also, it seems to be inevitable for President Roh Moo-hyun to revise his design for second phase of state management, and it is also becoming difficult to say whether or not Kim Hyuk-kyu will be appointed as a prime minister, originally scheduled on June 8.

In the mean time, GNP leader Park Geun-hye’s re-election as chairwoman is almost certain at the Party Convention scheduled next month as her leadership is becoming strong.

The Uri Party was completely defeated in elections for 19 local administrators except in three districts in Chungcheong Province, but the GNP won 13 elections, including five local administrators, in the Metropolitan area, Junggu, Yeongdeungpo and Gangdong wards, and the mayoral races of Bucheon and Pyeongtaek city.

For 38 provincial posts, 28 candidates in the GNP, 6 in the Uri Party, 1 in the Labor Democratic Party, 1 in the United Liberal Democrats, and 2 in the MDP were elected.

The Uri Party leadership, including the party chairman Shin Ki-nam, expressed their intention to resign from their posts, saying, “We will take full responsibility for the crushing defeats in the elections,” during a standing central committee Sunday morning, but decided to determine whether or not to hand in a resignation after collecting opinions until today from the party due to the persuasion of party staff members who suggested that the party fall into chaos if resignations were handed in now.

Standing central committee member Lee Bu-young insisted that the party leadership should resign from their posts and transform the party into an emergency committee to form a new mold. Another standing central committee member, Kim Hyuk-kyu, having been a most likely candidate to be appointed as next prime minister, hinted that he would express his course of action, saying, “Assign me to the matter of picking prime minister.”

Presidential spokesman Yoon Tai-young in this regard hinted at the possibility of delay for picking a prime minister, stating, “Since President Roh Moo-hyun has to deliver a speech at the opening of the National Assembly on June 7 and follow the procedures to listen to the opinions from the ruling party, there is the possibility of delay for picking a prime minister originally scheduled on June 8.”

In the meantime, the National Election Commission said that the voter turnout in this round of elections conducted on June 5 was 28.5 percent.

Young-Chan Yoon Jung-Hun Kim yyc11@donga.com jnghn@donga.com