South Korea: conservative Yoon Seok-yeol elected president
Yoon Seok-yeol, the conservative candidate at his campaign headquarters in Seoul, March 10, 2022. © Baek Seung-ryul/AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Conservative Yoon Seok-yeol, a former attorney general new to politics, was elected president of South Korea on Thursday (March 10), narrowly defeating the candidate of the center-left ruling party in a polarized election in extreme.
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Yoon Seok-yeol, the candidate of the People's Power Party (PPP), the main right-wing opposition party, won with 48.59% of the vote against 47.79% for his Democratic Party rival Lee Jae-myung, according to results with 98% of the votes published by the Yonhap news agency.
The South Korean presidential election has only one round.
“
This is the victory of the great South Korean people
,” Yoon Seok-yeol told his cheering supporters, gathered at dawn in the National Assembly.
The victory over the wire of Yoon, 61, marks a spectacular comeback for the PPP, hard hit in 2017 by the dismissal and then the imprisonment for abuse of power of President Park Gung-hye, who belonged to this formation.
Paradoxically, Yoon Seok-yeol, then prosecutor in Seoul, had played a key role in the investigation which had led to the fall of Ms. Park.
Analysts say Wednesday's presidential outcome could rekindle what the media have dubbed the "
revenge cycle
," a feature of the extreme polarization of political life in this country of 52 million people: all ex-South Korean presidents still alive have served time in prison for corruption at the end of their terms of office.
►Also read: Elections in South Korea, the major issues of an undecided presidential election
His Democratic Party opponent admits defeat
Yoon Seok-yeol will take over for five years in May from outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who could not stand for re-election.
He promised to order an investigation into his predecessor - who had appointed him Attorney General at the start of his term - without specifying the reasons.
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung admits defeat.
"
I did my best, but I didn't live up to expectations
," he told his Democratic Party supporters before adding, "
It's not your defeat, nor that of
of the Democratic Party.
All responsibility falls exclusively on me
".
Turnout in Wednesday's election stood at 77.1%, confirming strong voter interest despite a campaign marred by scandals, verbal abuse and poor debate between the two favorites too unpopular with each other.
The South Korean media had dubbed this election "the election between losers".
►
Also to listen: Geopolitics, the debate - Ukraine invites itself to the South Korean presidential election
(With AFP)
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