The nation’s general election will be held in a month. A total of 300 seats will be filled with lawmakers selected from 253 local constituencies and 47 lawmakers by proportional representation.
A key issue is whether the opposition will block the Saenuri Party from gaining an overwhelming majority. The ruling party, which has the majority in the 19th Assembly with 157 seats, has set the target of attaining 180 seats.
There are some worries in the divided opposition -- The Minjoo Party of Korea and People’s Party -- that the Saenuri may take 200 seats, by which it will be entitled to push for constitutional amendments.
Few can be certain of the number of seats that each party will eventually take. Dramatic events may happen in the coming four weeks or so.
Given that poll results on candidate approval ratings will be banned from being made public from April 7 to the election date of April 13, there remains about three weeks to read voter sentiment.
Voters’ choice for the 20th National Assembly hold significance in terms of evaluating the Park Geun-hye administration’s state affairs for the past three years.
The approval ratings for Park and the Saenuri Party are hovering at 42 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
Recent surveys show that supporters of Park’s state policies picked national security and North Korean policies as the most important factors for their approval, while a large proportion of opponents cited economic policies for their poor approval ratings.
The general election results will serve as a barometer for the 2017 presidential election.
Korea saw liberals elected as presidents consecutively in 1997 and 2002, and conservatives consecutively in 2007 and 2012.
The April election is near, amid mounting peninsular tensions from Pyongyang’s nuclear test and missile launch, and Seoul’s shutdown of the industrial park in Gaeseong in the North. This will be one of the main issues considered by voters.
As for the economy, some households are presumed to be satisfied with high apartment prices on the back of government-led stimulus packages over the past two years. On the other hand, some might be discontented with worsening living conditions from the widening income gap between the haves and have-nots.
In the area of diplomatic policies, Park tried to revive the overseas construction boom for local businesses through her visit to four major Middle East countries. She initiated the deal with Japan over wartime sex slavery, and asserted the necessity of deploying the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea, despite backlash from China and Russia.
The race has kicked off. Let us enjoy what contenders will argue in the next 30 days. And voters should not miss the opportunity to do so as it does not come that frequently.
