TAEGU, South Korea, 12 April 2004 — With little to choose between the two main parties in some parts of South Korea, many people are sticking to tried and trusted regional favorites in the run-up to Thursday’s parliamentary election.
In a country smaller than most US states, regionalism is one of the most potent factors in politics and has long dictated how many voters, especially in towns and cities outside Seoul, cast ballots.
While it has become less of a factor in this election, which is focusing on the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun and the fall-out, many older voters say that they will stick to old favorites. Some were even unsure who was in the pro-government Uri Party, which is a new party.
“Sure, people here like Park Geun-hye, no question about it,” taxi driver Kim Tae-seok said in the southeastern city of Taegu, when asked whether the opposition Grand National Party had been saved by its new leader, who is a regional hometown favorite.
The Grand National Party’s support ratings plummeted after the unpopular March 12 impeachment of Roh.
But Kim beamed with affection and pride for the fragile 52-year-old Park, daughter of slain former President Park Chung-hee. He said she would get the city’s unwavering support.
Twelve seats in the 299-seat National Assembly are from Taegu, the country’s third-largest city and a regional industrial center. Of all the seats in the assembly, 243 are chosen in first-past-the-post races from the electoral districts while 56 are chosen by proportional representaiton.
A group of elderly men lounging in Taegu’s chaotic and sprawling Seomun market, where goods ranging from herbal medicine to clothes to live chickens and dogs are up for sale, were confident the younger Park had inherited her father’s drive.
“Who has done more for Taegu than Park Chung-hee?” said one. “And the daughter is bound to be more or less the same.”
To many younger voters, nostalgia for the Park era is secondary to their distaste for the opposition attempt to unseat Roh.
The city of Taejon, known for its light industry, lies in the heart of two Chungchong provinces in the country’s midwest, a traditional stronghold of the conservative United Liberal Democrats whose leader comes from the area. Twenty-four members are elected to Parliament from the region.
Waning in popularity, the United Liberal Democrats are waging a battle to hold on to at least a few seats in the new 299-member National Assembly, and Im Young-ho is confident he will play a part by winning in a Taejon district. “I’d say most of the undecided voters will vote for the United Liberal Democrats,” Im said, as he greeted merchants at a flea market who displayed greater warmth for him than they did for the Uri Party candidate who had swung by an hour earlier.
“He’s done a lot of work here,” a group of merchants chimed in unison about Im.
One factor working against the United Liberal Democrats in Taejon is the perception it is in its dying days.
Three out of six members of Parliament from the city have switched to the Grand National Party since the last election.
In Kwangju and the surounding Cholla provinces, the Millennium Democratic Party of previous President Kim Dae-jung could traditionally take support for granted.
But the spin-off of a pro-Roh faction last year to form the Uri Party has obliterated the Millennium Democrats’ support base. But regional bias continues to be strong, virtually shutting out any meaningful challenge by the Grand National Party. Opinion polls taken prior to an April 2 blackout showed no Grand National Party candidate in contention in the Cholla provinces.
Complicating the regional card is a comment by Uri Party Chairman Chung Dong-young that senior voters should stay home on election day and let the young people decide the future.
