Now that the nationwide polls are over, major political parties are examining the results of Wednesday’s local elections and ponders their future political maneuvers. President Park Geun-hye and her aides may also be gauging the latest polls’ impact on her administration.
Usually Korean local elections are focused more on national politics than local issues. The latest polls, which selected nearly 4,000 new local administrators, council members and education officials, followed this tradition, as national issues like the Sewol ferry disaster overshadowed local ones.
The opposition was bent on turning the elections into a referendum on the Park administration. Highlighting the government’s lax safety approach and its botched response to the sinking of the ferry, opposition candidates appealed to voters to hand out a stern verdict to the government and the ruling party.
This placed the Saenuri Party on the defensive. President Park and the ruling party suffered another setback over the debacle surrounding Ahn Dae-hee, who gave up his nomination as prime minister in the wake of controversies over his wealth.
While the quadrennial event was largely focused on national politics and turned into a verdict on President Park, candidates repeated the typical ill practices of Korean elections ― making rosy, but unrealistic election promises and resorting to smear campaigns.
Many candidates’ election pledges were irresponsible. They included such typical pork-barrel projects as construction of new highways and airports. There were even promises to operate free intra-city buses, halve utility fees and provide free medical treatment for the elderly, all without feasible financing plans.
The sinking of the Sewol largely restrained the otherwise raucous campaigns, with major parties and candidates refraining from the use of loudspeakers, songs and dancing. Taking the national mourning for the Sewol victims in consideration, they also vowed not to engage in smear campaigns.
But as the polling day drew nearer, smear campaigns and other dirty tactics reared their ugly heads, especially in tight races. Among the ugliest were the smear campaigns involving the wife of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and the daughter of Koh Seung-duk, a candidate for the Seoul education superintendent’s seat.
Some candidates have filed suits against their rivals. In addition, there have been many cases of illegal electioneering and corruption. If the past is any guide, some of those elected will end up in jail. The National Election Commission, police and the prosecution should waste no time in bringing lawbreakers to justice.
On her part, President Park should accept the election results humbly, leave them behind and move on to vital state affairs. What’s most important is to pull together the nation, which has been in disarray since the Sewol sinking.
Promptly nominating the new prime minister and completing a reshuffle of the Cabinet and presidential office should be Park’s first steps for putting the government back in order. There will be a great deal of work for the reinvigorated administration ― from upgrading the nation’s safety system and overhauling the officialdom to reviving the economy and coping with foreign policy challenges.
Likewise, rival parties should now work on key legislative agendas in a bipartisan manner. The most pressing job is successfully conducting the parliamentary investigation into the Sewol disaster. Other urgent jobs for the National Assembly remain ― passing the Kim Young-ran anticorruption bill and bills to revise the government organization act, civil service ethics act and safety-related laws.
