Democratic Party of Korea Chair Jung Chung-rae, fourth from left, watches exit poll results of the local elections and parliamentary by-elections with party leaders at the party's election situation room at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) won 12 out of the country’s 16 mayor and provincial governor races in Wednesday’s local elections, according to the National Election Commission (NEC), Thursday.
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) won two races in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.
Vote counting for two regions, Seoul and South Gyeongsang Province, has not finished as of 6:20 a.m. The NEC is having a trouble in counting for Seoul as a ballot shortage at several polling stations in Seoul’s Songpa and Gangnam districts casued voting and vote-counting delays.
In Busan, DPK candidate Chun Jae-soo defeated incumbent Mayor Park Heong-joon of the PPP, while PPP candidate Choo Kyung-ho won the Daegu mayoral race against DPK's Kim Boo-kyum.
The DPK also performed strongly in races for heads of lower-tier local governments. Of the country’s 227 mayoral, county and district chief post, the party won 120, compared with 94 for the PPP. The Rebuilding Korea Party won two posts, while independents captured 11.
In Seoul’s district chief elections, the DPK won 21 of the capital’s 25 districts, leaving the PPP with four.
In the 14 parliamentary by-elections held alongside the local polls, the DPK won nine seats, the PPP four and independent, one. Independent candidate Han Dong-hoon won the closely watched Busan Buk-A race.
The PPP criticized election authorities over the ballot shortage issue and called for revote for SEoul, but the NEC continued counting process.
Source: Korea Times News
