The voter turnout, highest in the last three decades, gave the ruling party a comfortable majority amid coronavirus pandemic
South Korea’s parliamentary elections on April 15 saw the biggest voter turnout in nearly three decades, despite the ongoing pandemic conditions. The ruling liberal party secured a resounding victory in the parliamentary polls. According to the results announced on April 16, President’s Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party, along with a satellite party, won 180 seats in the 300-seat national assembly, the biggest majority any party has ever won post country’s transition into a democracy in 1987. The voter turnout was at 66.2 per cent, highest since 1992 general elections.
President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party was able to secure a landslide majority due to the government’s outstanding response to the coronavirus outbreak in the nation. Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan said in a party meeting, “We feel heavy responsibility, which outweighs our joy of winning the election. We will make preemptive and aggressive efforts to overcome the novel coronavirus crisis and the threat it poses to livelihoods and the national economy.”
The elections were held with utmost sanitation and the electorate encouraged people not to let the virus outbreak stand in the way of casting their vote. About 14,000 polling stations were opened in the early morning of April 14 where voters were asked to wear masks and temperatures were checked on arrival. All the voters were asked to maintain distance, use hand sanitizers and plastic gloves when casting ballots.
