Moon against tough election campaign in South Korea’s largest cities

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President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party may be on track for its biggest defeat in five years during mayoral elections in the two largest cities in South Korea, a worrying sign for its progressive bloc just 11 months before a presidential vote.

Surveys show conservatives with leading clues at by-elections in Seoul and Busan, fueled by public outrage over real estate prices in major cities rising under Moon.

Losses in cities, which make up about a quarter of South Korea’s population, could put the brakes on Moon’s agenda to increase public employment and put pressure on greater fiscal spending. It will also serve as a warning to his Democratic Party that he must revamp his policy if he is to retain the presidency when Moon’s single term of five years ends in 2022.

In Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, a former mayoral candidate for the Conservative opposition, was the choice of 50.5% of respondents, while Democratic candidate Park Young-sun, a former startup minister, at 28, 2% was, in a survey by Korea Research International, IPSOS and Hankook Research released a week ago, before the official eclipse period

In Busan, Park Hyung-jun of the conservative People Power Party Kim Young-choon of Moon’s progressive party was far ahead, according to a separate survey conducted by the three institutions.

Polling stations are open until 8 pm. As of 3 p.m., turnout was 45.2% in Seoul and 40.2% in Busan, slightly lower than at the same time of day in the last election in 2018, when polls closed two hours earlier. National Electoral Commission.

Oh, also supported by the PPP, Moon’s government slammed for tightening regulations on redevelopment and limiting the number of building permits over the years, saying that efforts to curb profits from private construction have stalled .

O resigned as mayor of Seoul in 2011, after losing a battle to curtail free student lunches in the capital to reduce public spending. A return to power may indicate public sentiment that Moon’s economic policies that prioritize the redistribution of wealth and fiscal aid have weakened. Park also showed her unhappiness with Moon’s real estate policy and distanced herself from the president.

“If the PPP wins, Moon could become a lame duck and swing voters will be able to jump on the bandwagon of the People Power Party over the next few months,” said Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University. in Seoul.

Moon promised to make housing more affordable when he was elected in 2017, but apartment prices in Seoul have doubled in the past five years, while South Korean salaries have risen by less than 20%, leaving housing in the capital out of reach for many people late. some of it in the hands of some speculators.

Runaway prizes

Seoul apartments have become twice as expensive twice in the last five years

Amid anger over housing, Moon’s support rate reached a new low last week, following allegations that employees of a state-owned land corporation used insider information to make money from their housing development in Seoul. The scandal was the latest in a series of dubious land deals that toppled the Moon presidency.

The move comes after Moon and his allies won a large majority in the parliamentary election about a year ago, and they had a wave of public support for their handling of the coronavirus crisis. Moon’s party won a series of victories following the indictment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016, a Conservative leader who was later convicted of corruption.

The by-election was necessary after the mayors of Seoul and Busan, both of Moon’s Democratic Party, faced allegations of sexual harassment, an embarrassment to Moon who declared himself a feminist president.

– With help from Sam Kim and Jiyeun Lee

(Updates with figures in sixth paragraph.)