Moon facing a tough electoral struggle in South Korea’s largest cities

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President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party could head to South Korea’s two largest cities on Wednesday for its biggest defeat in five years in mayoral elections, a worrying sign for its progressive bloc only 11 months before the presidential vote.

Polls show conservatives with major advantages in the by-elections in Seoul and Busan, fueled by public anger over property prices in major cities that have soared under the moon.

Losses in cities that make up about a quarter of South Korea’s population could slow Moon’s agenda to increase public employment and drive higher tax spending. It would also serve as a warning to his Democratic party that it needs to renew its policies if it wants to retain the presidency when Moon’s five-year single term ends in 2022.

In Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, a former mayor running as a candidate for the Conservative opposition, was the election of 50.5% of respondents, while Democratic candidate Park Young-sun, a former startup minister, was 28.2%, in a poll published by Korea Research International, IPSOS and Hankook Research a week ago, before the official shutdown period

In Busan, Park Hyung-jun of the conservative People Power Party was well ahead of Kim Young-choon of Moon’s progressive party, according to a section survey conducted by the three institutions.

Voting is open until 8 p.m. At three in the afternoon, turnout was 45.2% in Seoul and 40.2% in Busan, slightly lower than the same time on the day of the last elections in 2018, when the polls closed two hours earlier. , according to the National Electoral Commission.

Oh, also backed by the PPP, he has attacked the Moon government for tightening regulations on redevelopment and limiting the number of building permits over the years, saying the attempt to curb private builders ’profits has failed.

Ah! he resigned as mayor of Seoul in 2011 after losing the fight to curb free student lunches in the capital to cut public spending, prompting criticism of being narrow. A return to power could indicate that public sentiment has worsened toward Moon’s economic policies that prioritize the redistribution of wealth and tax aid. Park has also shown his displeasure with Moon’s real estate policy and has distanced himself from the president.

“If the PPP wins, Moon will possibly become a lame anchor and swing voters may jump more on the People’s Power Party cart in the coming months,” according to Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in Seoul.

Moon pledged to make housing more affordable when he was elected in 2017, but apartment prices in Seoul have doubled in the past five years, while South Korean wages have risen by less than 20%, leaving housing in the capital out of the reach of many people and some of them in the hands of a few speculators.

Amid outrage over housing, Moon’s support rate hit a new low last week, following allegations that employees of a state-owned land corporation used inside information to make money from promotions. of housing in Seoul. The scandal was the latest in a series of questionable land deals that have haunted the Moon presidency.

Poll figures come after Moon and his allies won a majority in parliamentary elections about a year ago, with a wave of public support for their management of the coronavirus crisis. Moon’s party has won a series of victories following the 2016 removal of former President Park Geun-hye, a Conservative leader later convicted of corruption.

The by-elections were necessary after the mayors of Seoul and Busan, both of Moon’s Democratic Party, faced allegations of sexual harassment, a disgrace to Moon who has run as a feminist president.

– With the assistance of Sam Kim and Jiyeun Lee

(Updates with participation figures in the sixth paragraph.)