|
The Grand National Party suffered a crushing defeat in local by-elections on Wednesday. The GNP fielded candidates in seven out of nine precincts across the country that chose new mayors, county and district chiefs. But it won in only one, Cheongdo County, North Gyeongsang Province. The GNP lost the district chief positions in Gangdong-gu in Seoul and Seo-gu in Incheon, as well as the mayor of Pocheon city in Gyeonggi Province, where the party had not been defeated since 2002. It nominated 25 candidates for local assembly seats, but only eight were elected. The GNP had always performed well during by-elections, which usually see lower voter turnout. But not this time.
Voters were passing judgment on President Lee Myung-bak in this election. It would have been strange for the ruling party not to have lost the by-election, against the background of controversial appointments of key government officials, stubborn insistence on pushing ahead with the cross-Korea canal project and fears over U.S. beef that have driven President Lee Myung-bakĄ¯s approval rating down to little more than 20 percent.
Even though everything Cheong Wa Dae did failed to win public support, not a single person from the GNP tried to oppose the president. The head of the party met with the president, but failed even to recommend a set of measures to reform the way the president governs. Even within the GNP, members are saying the party has stopped functioning. It is clear how voters perceive the ruling party. In the April parliamentary elections, the GNP won a majority of the National Assembly seats, but in just two months the situation has been reversed. Most of the people who supported the GNP probably did not even bother to vote this time.
The GNP must understand that public sentiment is if anything even more negative. The GNP would have suffered a complete rout if voter turnout had been over 40 percent. Unless the party devotes itself to reforming the government, the party may end up walking down the path of the former Uri Party, which suffered complete shutouts in the latter elections of the Roh Moo-hyun administration. The GNP knows what an ignominious end the Uri Party came to.
Meanwhile, when the level of discontent is this high toward the administration, voters tend to hit the polls to vote for the opposition. But the United Democratic Party failed to overwhelm the GNP. If the UDP continues its present style of protest without acknowledging the fundamental reason behind the latest choice of voters, it will lose its appeal as an alternative for the public.
|
