By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter


The Uri Party became the majority party in the National Assembly by beating its archrival Grand National Party (GNP) in Thursday’s general elections.

The pro-government Uri Party beat the GNP both in the number of constituencies and the number of proportional representation seats won.

According to a Korea Times tally as of 10 p.m., the Uri Party led in 129 out of 243 constituencies, while the GNP was ahead in only 102 districts.

In exit polls announced as the voting finished at 6 p.m., the Uri Party was expected to win anywhere between 142 and 188 seats in the new 299-member National Assembly.

The opposition GNP, which had held a 137-seat majority in the outgoing parliament, was expected to pick up 87 to 129 seats, according to major broadcasting companies’ exit polls.

The Uri Party received balanced support across the country, faring well in Seoul and other metropolitan areas, as well as in across the Cholla and Chungchong provinces.

The opposition Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) was expected to see its 59 Assembly seats reduced drastically to a single-digit figure, being unable to gain even the 20 places in the legislature necessary to form an independent negotiating bloc.

Far from its goal of obtaining a deciding vote in parliament, the MDP, founded by former President Kim Dae-jung, now finds itself on the verge of dissolution.

The left-of-center Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was the surprise of the evening as it was forecast to take up to 12 seats and become the first pro-labor party in the Assembly.

The DLP may be able to exercise a balance of power by shifting between the Uri Party and GNP.

The result is a two-party Assembly, with the GNP lagging some 30 seats behind the ruling Uri Party, and conservative United Liberal Democrats essentially out of the parliamentary picture with only four seats.

MDP chairman Chough Soon-hyung, a key figure who had led the impeachment movement against President Roh Moo-hyun, was defeated by his younger Uri Party opponent.

The National Alliance 21 saw only incumbent lawmaker Chung Mong-joon, sixth son of the late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, elected in an Ulsan electoral district.

The election again was divided clearly along regional lines as the GNP swept the Kyongsang provinces.

The cutthroat competition was verified by a surprisingly large number of constituencies where the vote difference was in the hundreds.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr