The ruling Uri Party suffered another crushing defeat in Wednesday¡¯s parliamentary by-elections. No Uri Party candidates won in the four constituencies of Seongbuk-eul and Songpa-gap, both in Seoul, Sosa in Gyeonggi Province and Masan-gap in South Gyeongsang Province. That means the ruling party has secured no seat in parliamentary by-elections since 2005.
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Voters cast their ballots at Sungrye Elementary School in Seoul in parliamentary by-elections on Wednesday.
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In the Seongbuk-eul constituency, Millennium Democratic Party candidate Chough Soon-hyung beat opposition Grand National Party candidate Choi Soo-young. Chough¡¯s election is expected to send shockwaves across the ruling party, since he played a leading role in the impeachment of President Roh moo-hyun in March 2004 and has said his victory in the by-election would mean the presidential impeachment was right. Uri Party candidate Cho Jae-hee, a former presidential secretary, trailed far behind.
The GNP won the three other seats. In Songpa-gap, GNP candidate Maeng Hyung-kyu beat the Uri Party¡¯s Jong Gi-young. In Sosa, the GNP¡¯s Cha Myeong-jin trounced Uri¡¯s Kim Man-soo, a former presidential spokesman. Lee Joo-young was far ahead of Uri Party candidate Kim Sung-jin in Masan-gap.
The National Election Commission said voter turnout was at an all-time low of 24.6 percent.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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