The candidate of the main right-wing opposition format has accurately beat his left rival, Lee Jae-Myung. He will succeed for five years in May the outgoing president moon jae-in, who could not represent
Le Monde with AFP
Novice In Politics, former Attorney General Yoon Seok-Yuol was elected, Thursday, March 10, President of South Korea. The Power Party candidate (PPP), the main formation of the right opposition, took away from a short head, with 48.56% of the votes to 47.83% for his rival of the democratic party Lee Jae-Myung, according to definitive results published by the Electoral Commission. The South Korean presidential election has only one tower.
“This is the victory of the great South Korean people,” said Mr. Yoon in front of his followers, gathered at dawn in the National Assembly.
The victory over the thread of Mr. Yoon, 61, marks a spectacular return of grace for the PPP, hardly assigned in 2017 by the dismissal and the incarceration for the abuse of power of the President Park Gung-Hye, who belonged to this training. Paradoxically, Mr. Yoon, then Prosecutor in Seoul, had played a key role in the investigation that had resulted in the fall of Ms. Park.
Yoon Seok-Youll will succeed for five years in May the outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who could not be represented. He promised to order an investigation into his predecessor – who had appointed him Attorney General at the beginning of his term – without clarifying what reasons.
“Vengence cycle”
According to the analysts, the result of the presidential could revive what the media have baptized the “cycle of revenge”, a characteristic of the extreme polarization of political life in this country of 52 million inhabitants: all The former South Korean presidents still alive made the prison for corruption at the end of their term.
The left candidate, Lee Jae-Myung, recognized his defeat. , “I did my best, but I was not up to expectations,” Lee said his supporters of the democratic party. “It’s neither your defeat nor that of the Democratic Party. All responsibility falls exclusively on me,” he added.
The participation rate amounted to 77.1%, confirming the keen interest of voters despite a campaign marked by the scandals, verbal aggression and the poverty of the debate of ideas between the two favorites so unpopular. one another. The South Korean media had nicknamed this vote “the election between losers”.
This strong participation intervenes even that South Korea is hit hard by the pandemic, with more than 340,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and more than one million patients in isolation at home. The electoral law had been developed for COVID patients to be able to vote separately for 90 minutes after the closing of the vote for the rest of the population.
Deletion of the Ministry of Equality Men Women
If we believe the surveys published at the release of the ballot boxes, the result reflects a net gender cleavage among voters under the age of 30, result of a campaign marked by statements judged sexist of M . Yoon. In this age group, 58.7% of men voted for the right candidate and only 36.3% for Mr. Lee. Conversely, women of the same age voted 58% for Mr. Lee and only to 33.8% for Mr. Yoon.
Mr. Yoon’s proposal that was the most of the attention aims to remove the Ministry of Equality MEN Women, on the grounds that, despite the facts proving the opposite, South Korean do not suffer from “discrimination Systemic between the sexes “, according to him.
m. Yoon, completely novice in politics, had been chosen in June to represent the power party to the people (PPP), the main right opposition formation. It has campaigned by offering a relaxation of labor law, including the minimum wage and maximum working time. He also advocates firmness with regard to North Korea.
His rival Lee Jae-Myung, a former worker and former governor of the country’s most populous province, had proposed original measures, including a minimum universal income. But he was in the collimator for a suspicious land operation and many gaffes.