S. Korea ruling party wins polls

South Korea's ruling liberals secured a landslide victory in quadrennial local elections held on Wednesday, while the main opposition party successfully defended the key Seoul mayoralty, official data showed on Thursday.

According to the National Election Commission, President Lee Jaemyung's ruling Democratic Party, or DP, won 12 out of 16 races for metropolitan mayor and provincial governor races.

The result marks a dramatic shift in voter sentiment from four years ago as the DP demonstrated nationwide dominance, a turnaround from the 2022 local elections when the then-ruling People Power Party, or PPP, claimed 12 out of 17 major gubernatorial and mayoral positions.

In the contest this week, the DP successfully flipped traditional conservative strongholds, including the crucial southeastern port city of Busan, while retaining its grip on the vital capital region of Gyeonggi Province, the western port of Incheon, and its traditional home turf in the South and North Jeolla provinces.

But the PPP managed to secure four races for mayors and governors, including the capital Seoul, the southeastern inland city of Daegu, and South Gyeongsang and North Gyeongsang provinces.

The parliamentary by-election was held concurrently on Wednesday. The DP secured nine out of the 14 contested parliamentary seats, further consolidating its majority role in the 300-member National Assembly. The PPP gained four seats, and one independent candidate was elected in Busan.

The elections were held exactly one year after President Lee took office last year, with many seeing it as the first test for his administration.

In a meeting with senior aides on Thursday, Lee said he would "humbly" accept the public sentiment reflected in the election results and pledged to cooperate actively with newly elected local governments regardless of their political affiliation, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Symbolic post

Losing the Seoul mayoral race is seen as a painful blow to the ruling party as it is a highly symbolic post that is often regarded as a key barometer of public sentiment.

DP leader Jung Chung-rae said in a news conference that he is grateful to the public for granting the party a major nationwide victory in the local elections but added that it was painful that the party failed in the Seoul race.

"I apologize for the disappointing election results," said PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk in a Facebook post, adding that the party managed to keep the "spark of hope" alive in the challenging election and will find a new path forward.

"(The election) is a referendum not only on President Lee … but essentially … also a referendum on the behavior and attitude of the main opposition party," said Lam Peng Er, head of the Korea Centre and principal research fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

While the ruling party has emerged very strong both in terms of local and national power, the PPP also managed to avoid total annihilation by retaining key conservative strongholds and winning the race in Seoul, Lam told China Daily.

Still, Lam said the landslide win of the ruling party in both local and by-elections will provide political stability for Lee to pursue his domestic reforms.

He said the high voter turnout, the second-highest in South Korea's local election history, showed there are many voters who feel that the PPP had not really repented for the failed martial law declaration by former president Yoon Suk-yeol in 2024. Yoon was impeached the following year.

Over 27.2 million people cast their ballots in the June 3 local elections, with a final voter turnout of 61 percent.