Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, won a landslide victory against People Power Party’s presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo on June 3. Three years after he was defeated by the PPP’s Yoon Suk-yeol, who was impeached in April for his illegitimate declaration of martial law, with the narrowest margin of votes in South Korea’s presidential election history, Lee finally succeeded in winning the highest ranking office in the country.
According to South Korea’s National Election Commission, with 100 percent of votes tallied, Lee received 49.4 percent of votes while Kim secured 41.2 percent. Lee Jun-seok, the presidential candidate of the New Reform Party, received 8.3 percent of votes. With support from over 17.2 million Koreans, Lee won more votes from the public than any other president since the country adopted a direct election system in 1987.
According to the exit polls released by South Korea’s major broadcasters, Kim’s votes mainly came from the elderly, especially those in their 70s or older. Considering the distribution of age in South Korea – those aged 60 or above account for more than one third of the total population – the elderly’s unconditional support to the PPP has again been confirmed in this election.
When exit polls showed Lee with a large lead, Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the DP who also managed Lee’s presidential campaign, described the results as the people’s rage vote against the Yoon administration and the insurrection forces in an interview with Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).
Lee’s victory was widely expected since the snap presidential election was scheduled due to Yoon’s illegitimate declaration of martial law on December 3. Lee’s approval ratings had steadily reached around 50 percent, demonstrating the consolidation of his support base who did not want to miss the opportunity to make him the president of South Korea.
Kim was a hardline supporter of Yoon who opposed impeachment in the early stage of the process, which presumably made it challenging for centrists to accept and to vote for him. However, Kim still received over 40 percent of votes in the election, clearly demonstrating that a significant segment of voters will not vote for another party – no matter what wrongdoings or criminal acts People Power Party politicians commit. Also, it shows the severity of polarization in South Korea between the liberals and the conservatives.
Lee Jun-seok, the NRP’s presidential candidate, won over 8 percent of the vote by garnering support from the young generation. The PPP had sought to convince Lee to back Kim as a “unity” conservative candidate, but to no avail. The combined votes for both Kim and Lee would have just barely eclipsed Lee Jae-myung’s vote count, by less than one-tenth of a percentage point.
As pledged, Lee’s top priority will be integrating the severely divided country, coping with economic challenges, and recovering the country’s status as a middle-power country in the diplomatic stage.
Amid the economic chaos endangered by Yoon’s martial law, Lee repeatedly vowed to deal with the country’s sluggish economy by forming an emergency task force. Lee is a well-known reformist whose welfare policies laid the groundwork of his support base starting from his stint as mayor of Seongnam. Lee, however, clearly stated that he will not strain the country’s financial condition by implementing his welfare policies. This pledge was meant to soothe the centrists who were concern that Lee might use his strong grip on power – the DP occupies a near supermajority in the legislature – to boost his welfare policies, at the expense of the country’s budget.
During the campaign, he made clear that he will seek to integrate the country, which has been polarized in the wake of Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law. Lee worked to persuade centrists to vote for him, and according to the exit polls he largely succeeded.
Emphasizing his achievements as a mayor of Seongnam and a governor of Gyeonggi province, the largest province in South Korea, Lee repeatedly claimed that he prepared hard to run the country. During his final address as a presidential candidate on June 3, he appealed to the public by saying that voting for him would mean putting the insurrection events that began in December to an end. Lee framed his election as the strongest signal of the public’s protests against Yoon’s martial law, dubbed “a revolution of light.”
This piece has been updated to reflect NEC election tallies as of June 4, 5:05 am KST.