South Korea's Election Frontrunner Still Leaves Many Unconvinced
Lee Jae-myung is still the frontrunner in South Korea's presidential race, but what once looked like a landslide victory has turned into a much closer contest.
Just a few weeks ago, the left-leaning opposition candidate appeared almost certain to win, after the chaotic downfall of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached and ousted from office following a failed attempt to impose martial law. That left his party fractured and in disarray.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Media: Left-winger Lee Jae Myung leading in South Korean elections
Left-wing politician Lee Jae Myung is leading in the presidential election in South Korea, according to initial media projections. Public broadcaster KBS said the 60-year-old currently has 51.7% of the vote, while his conservative opponent Kim Moon Soo has 39.3%. However, the ratios could still change during the counting process and a definitive result is not expected until about midnight (1500 GMT Tuesday). Former human rights lawyer Lee Jae Myung is in favour of expanding renewable energy production, strengthening workers' rights and pursuing a foreign policy of rapprochement with China and North Korea. South Korean politics is deeply divided and the two candidates offered the country's 44 million eligible voters very different visions for the future. They are bidding to replace Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law in early December after a budget dispute. He justified the radical move by claiming, among other things, that the left-wing opposition had been infiltrated by communist and anti-state forces.
News24
3 hours ago
- News24
South Korea votes in the ‘most important' presidential election after martial law turmoil
South Koreans are voting to elect a new president. Millions have already cast their early ballots in the snap election. Polls have put liberal Lee Jae-myung well ahead. South Koreans began voting on Tuesday for a new president, six months to the day after ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol plunged the country into political chaos with his disastrous declaration of martial law. A handful of elderly voters lined up at a polling station in Seoul's Munrae-dong area at 06:00 (21:00 GMT) to cast their ballots when voting began. 'We were the first to arrive with the hope our candidate gets elected, and because the presidential election is the most important,' Yu Bun-dol, 80, told AFP, adding she was voting for the conservative People Power Party (PPP) - Yoon's former party. Millions have already cast their ballots in the snap election, with more than a third of registered voters doing so last week during two days of early voting, the National Election Commission said. All major polls have put liberal Lee Jae-myung well ahead, with the latest Gallup survey showing 49% of respondents viewed him as the best candidate. Campaigning is not allowed on election day, but Lee posted on Facebook that the vote would 'show the strength of the Korean people', after months of turmoil. Kim Moon-soo, from the conservative PPP, has trailed Lee in the polls, on 35% in the Gallup survey. The fallout from martial law declaration, which has left South Korea effectively leaderless for the first months of US President Donald Trump's second term, is the top concern for voters, experts said. 'Polls show the election is largely viewed as a referendum on the previous administration,' Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women's University, told AFP. The martial law and impeachment crisis not only swayed moderates but also fractured the conservative base. Kang Joo-hyun Yoon's impeachment over the martial law bid, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament, made him the second straight conservative president to be stripped of office after Park Geun-hye in 2017. Conservative candidate Kim also failed to convince a third party candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, to unify and avoid splitting the right-wing vote. Voter Park dong-shin, 79, said Yoon's martial law declaration 'was the kind of thing done during the old days of dictatorship in our country'. He said he was voting for the candidate who would make sure those responsible were 'properly dealt with'. Seoul's streets were peaceful as people made the most of good weather and a public holiday, but police issued the highest level of alert and deployed thousands of officers to ensure the poll proceeded smoothly. South Korean presidents serve a single five-year term. Yonhap/AFP Lee's Democratic Party already holds a parliamentary majority and analysts say the fractured conservative base will struggle in opposition unless it can resolve its issues. 'Conservative politics was associated with competent governance, but it's now hard to argue that they remain capable,' said Kang Won-taek, a political science professor at Seoul National University. With a regular presidential election, there is a months-long transition period, and the new leader's term begins at midnight after the predecessor's final day. But in a snap election, the winner becomes president as soon as the National Election Commission ratifies the vote tally. Anthony Wallace/AFP After months of turmoil and a revolving door of lame-duck acting leaders, many South Koreans are eager for the country to move forward. Cab driver Choi Sung-wook, 68, said he was voting for liberal Lee, partly due to his impoverished childhood, which he believed 'will have a big influence on how he will serve the people'. 'I thought Yoon would do well, but he betrayed the people. I hope the next president will create an atmosphere of peace and unity rather than ideological warfare.' Overall voter turnout is expected to be high. 'The focus won't be on whether Lee will win, but on whether he will secure more than 50% of the vote,' said Bae Kang-hoon, co-founder of political think tank Valid. 'If he manages to do so, it would give him a significant boost in momentum to govern as president.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why Mongolia's Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Resigned
Mongolia's Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain bows after a no-confidence vote in Ulaanbaatar on June 3, 2025. Credit - Byamabasuren Byamba-Ochir—AFP/Getty Images Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain was elected Mongolia's Prime Minister in 2021, after gaining prominence by helping to organize mass protests against corruption. Now, after protesters have taken to the streets accusing him of corruption, which he has denied, he's resigned. Oyun-Erdene lost a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday, according to a parliamentary statement, failing to secure a majority 64 votes in the 126-seat body. Only 82 lawmakers voted in the secret ballot, which yielded only 44 in approval of Oyun-Erdene. 'It was an honour to serve my country and people in times of difficulties, including pandemics, wars, and tariffs,' Oyun-Erdene said after the vote. Oyun-Erdene, whose center-left ruling Mongolian People's Party retained a majority but formed a coalition with opposition parties anyway after legislative elections last year, will remain as caretaker Prime Minister until his successor is appointed within 30 days. His resignation, fueled by discontent over his family's apparent lavish spending and luxurious lifestyle, marks the latest political upheaval in the Asian nation's longstanding fight against corruption. The mineral-rich landlocked country, sandwiched between autocratic giants China and Russia, has been a hotbed of predatory behavior by business elites, while more than a quarter of the country's 3.5 million population is mired in poverty. The no-confidence vote means the coalition government will cease to exist, though the Mongolian People's Party should be able to form a new government. Oyun-Erdene told TIME in an interview in January that he formed the coalition government to try to overcome Mongolia's inertia due to politicization. 'As a small kid, I looked forward to my country's development,' he said, 'and there have been some projects that people discussed at that time, but still no progress has been made because of political divisions.' Here's what to know. This year, antigovernment protests began as early as January. But the Prime Minister faced a new wave of criticism in May stemming from a controversy surrounding his 23-year-old son Temuulen, whom Asia-Pacific commentary outlet The Diplomat reported was recalled from his studies at Harvard University 'due to corruption investigations.' Social media reports of Temuulen gifting his now-fiancée luxury items—including, according to CNN, 'helicopter rides, an expensive ring, designer handbags and a luxury car'—angered the public. Protest group Ogtsrokh Amarkhan circulated a petition that got more than 59,000 signatories calling for Oyun-Erden to leave his post, listing his son's lavish spending as only one of the reasons why. The group also cited inflation and price increases, growing unemployment, and poverty. Protesters also called for Oyun-Erdene to release his finances. Oyun-Erdene's office has mainly called the allegations of financial impropriety a 'smear' and 'completely unfounded.' In a statement to CNN, the office said that the Prime Minister 'makes regular financial declarations annually in line with Mongolian law.' Following demands to resign in May, the Prime Minister spoke to local media in defense of his son. Researcher Bolor Lkhaajav reported for The Diplomat that Oyun-Erdene's son did not ask for financial support from his father and that Mongolia's Anti-Corruption Agency was looking into the controversy. Oyun-Erdene even reportedly offered to resign without protest if the agency discovered irregularities in his financial statement. Oyun-Erdene warned before the confidence vote that a change in government could threaten Mongolia's fragile democracy, which only started in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed. 'If governance becomes unstable, the economic situation deteriorates, and political parties cannot come to consensus. It could lead the public to lose faith in parliamentary rule and potentially put our democratic parliamentary system at risk of collapse,' the Prime Minister said. While defending himself, he acknowledged that he was 'dedicating too much time to major projects while paying insufficient attention to social and internal political matters.' Mongolia ranks 114 of 180 countries and territories in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The 2024 Freedom House's Freedom in the World index describes corruption, particularly involving the mining industry, as 'endemic in Mongolia' and said the problem is widely perceived to 'have worsened in recent years.' According to Freedom House, the country's anticorruption laws 'are vaguely written and infrequently enforced', while anticorruption authorities have been 'criticized as ineffective in pursuing cases.' In 2024, U.S. prosecutors sought the forfeiture of former Prime Minister Batbold Sükhbaatar's two luxury apartments in New York City after they were found to have been purchased using the proceeds of 'unlawfully awarded Mongolian mining contracts.' And in 2022, a coal theft case involving minerals being illegally transported across the Chinese border rocked Mongolia, entangling high-ranking officials and business leaders and resulting in an estimated loss of $12 billion to the economy. Contact us at letters@
