The 20^th Legislative Elections Shows the Public Sentiment Goes Against the Park Guen-Hye administration.

 

○ In the 20^th Legislative Elections that were held on April 13, Koreans judged the dominated legislature by the current administration and the conservative ruling party. Out of the total 300 seats, the liberal Minjoo Party won 123 (110 from local constituencies, 13 from the proportional party lists, while the ruling Saenuri Party secured 122 (105 from local constituencies, 17 from the proportional party lists) and the newly-established People’s Party won 38 (25 from local constituencies, 13 from the proportional party lists), leading the opposition parties collectively to be now a majority.

 

○ The progressive Justice Party gained 6 seats (2 from local constituencies, 4 from the proportional party lists) and 11 independent candidates were elected. By political parties, Saenuri Party earned 33.5%, People’s Party 26.6%, Minjoo Party 25.5% and Justice Party 7.2% in the proportional representations.

 

○ Ahead of the general election, People’s Party was newly established, possibly leading the votes for opposition parties to be split. With this, Saenuri Party expected to gain 150 seats at least and even 180 at the maximum but it was completely defeated.

 

○ KHMU President Yoo Ji-hyun stated about this general election, “The outcome is actually the punishment of workers on the arrogant regime that has been oppressing workers and going back to dictatorship. The administration should modestly accept the public sentiment and give up the policies for healthcare sector privatization. Also, it should stop its intention to introduce the performance-based annual salary system and such oppressive policies for easy dismissal.