GNP looking strong in tomorrow’s Assembly elections

JoongAng Daily, April 8, 2008

With the National Assembly elections tomorrow, candidates and their supporters were making frantic efforts to win voters yesterday. For one candidate’s wife, that meant singing to a group of drunken men hooting at her at a pub.

Although the outlook for the Grand National Party is generally bright — with experts predicting the party will capture at least 160 seats — others say the results of as many as 60 races are too close to call, especially because general voter turnout is expected to be low this time.

Candidates are competing in 245 National Assembly districts. The other 54 seats will be chosen proportionally based on how many votes each party receives.

In Jongno, Seoul, where Park Jin of the Grand National Party and Sohn Hak-kyu, a former chairman of the United Democratic Party, were battling for votes, their wives set out to the streets.

Jo Yoon-hui, 52, introducing herself as the “significant other half” of Park Jin, bowed deeply every time she saw a passerby. The violinist, who studied at Korea’s top university, Seoul National, stayed out until 2 a.m. in sneakers to help her husband.

At a pub in Gugi-dong, she was greeted by a group of drunken men insisting they would only vote for Park if she sang to them. She hesitated, then sang Park’s campaign song.

Lee Yun-yeong, 62, Sohn’s wife, also walked around in comfortable shoes yesterday, buying food from street vendors and sharing instant coffee with merchants.

She visited a local bathhouse where her aides stopped her from entering the locker room, saying the customers there might feel uncomfortable.

Critics expect the fight in the Gyeonggi and Seoul areas to be a showdown between the Grand National Party and the United Democratic Party, or the GNP and the independents.

“As the election day nears, the GNP is clearly in the lead in many polls,” said Ahn Boo-keun, head of The Opinion, a polling company.

The UDP is, however, leading in many areas, including the Jeolla provinces, where liberals are usually strong. Of the 31 districts in the region, the UDP said it was certain to win in 26 districts.

Other minor parties, including Pro-Park United, the Liberal Forward Party and the Democratic Labor Party, focused on the regions where they are traditionally strong.

The Pro-Park party continued to emphasize that it represents Park Geun-hye, former chairwoman of the GNP, as a counterbalance to President Lee Myung-bak of the GNP.

By Namkoong Wook, Sun Seung-hye JoongAng Ilbo [mina@joongang.co.kr]