South Korea’s president could face 3 years of stagnancy if voters keep the opposition in parliament
A man watches posters of presidential candidates on a street in Seoul, South Korea, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
DATE OF ELECTION
April 10
TYPE OF ELECTION
parliamentary
WHO’S RUNNING
The parliamentary elections in April are shaping up as a confidence vote for conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has already been struggling with low approval ratings and an opposition-controlled parliament that has limited the implementations of his agendas. A failure by Yoon’s People Power Party to win majority in the 300-seat National Assembly likely means he spends the next three years of his single-term presidency as a lame duck. It would also damage the conservatives’ prospects for repeating a presidential win in 2027.
WHY IT MATTERS TO THE WORLD
Yoon’s footing in domestic politics will be closely watched in Washington and Tokyo after he took aggressive steps to strengthen their trilateral security cooperation in the face of growing North Korean nuclear threats. While Yoon’s policies have aligned with the Biden administration’s efforts to tighten a united front with its Asian allies in the face of growing regional challenges, also including Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s assertive foreign policy, South Korea’s opposition has claimed that Yoon’s hard line on the North is fueling a dangerous escalation of tensions.
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