With the ruling Saenuri Party losing its majority status based on exit polls and early predictions, President Park Geun-hye was seen to suffer a major blow to her leadership, with nearly two years left in her tenure.
The party snatching up a comfortable majority in the most crucial election before the 2017 presidential race was deemed necessary for Park to build momentum in her reform and economic revitalization initiatives. It would also have maximized her influence in searching for a potential successor from the pool of heavily competitive candidates.
President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)
The disappointing results put a dent in Park’s long-held nickname, the “queen of election,” a title she once again attempted to revive this time at the risk of stoking debate over her obligation to stay neutral during elections, such as by making regional support visits up until right before the election day.
Park’s loyalists, for their part, are expected to turn the blame onto current chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung for the lackluster results, seizing an opportunity to quell Kim’s faction, which has been unfriendly with the pro-Parks.
On the legislative front, the loss of majority means the Saenuri Party would lose the force to push for changes and reform the president had highlighted since the beginning of the year. Park and the ruling party had been pushing to pass a series of bills on economic revitalization and labor reform.
One such reform bill is provisionally called Basic Act on the Development of the Service Industry, which provides legal basis for financial support and deregulation in the service sector.
Park said Tuesday that the bill would create 690,000 jobs within the next 15 years.
But the opposition and the labor industry have opposed the act, pointing out that it also applies to fields that have been provided largely on a public level, such as medicine and education. They say that the bill will pave way for the privatization of the medical services, which will result in a gigantic surge in medical costs.
The labor reform bills are also pending at the National Assembly. Park has said that this is crucial to creating jobs, while opponents said it will allow “easy layoffs” or workers and expand the number of nonguaranteed contract workers.
Rival parties have also clashed over revising the National Assembly Advancement Act, which stipulates that at least 60 percent of the lawmakers must agree on a contested bill to pass it.
The opposition has been fiercely opposing Saenuri‘s plan to revise the bill, which was one of the ruling party’s election pledges in the general election.
Local observers have raised the possibility that the Saenuri Party might allow defectors to return in order to procure the majority, despite prominent members of the pro-Park faction like Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan saying they would never allow them to return.
Rep. Yoo Seong-min, the former Saenuri floor leader who left the party amid the recent nominations fiasco, has publicly said that he would immediately return to his old party upon being elected. Dong-gu, Daegu handed him a resounding victory Wednesday with over 70 percent support.
Park publicly said that the people should “judge the politics of betrayal,” which was widely perceived as targeting Yoo and those who opposed her welfare policies.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)