Staff members count the ballots from South Korea's local elections at a counting station in Seoul on Wednesday. JUN HYOSANG/XINHUA
South Korea's ruling liberals secured a landslide victory in quadrennial local elections held on Wednesday, while the main opposition party successfully defended the key Seoul mayoralty, official data showed on Thursday.
According to the National Election Commission, President Lee Jaemyung's ruling Democratic Party, or DP, won 12 out of 16 races for metropolitan mayor and provincial governor races.
The result marks a dramatic shift in voter sentiment from four years ago as the DP demonstrated nationwide dominance, a turnaround from the 2022 local elections when the then-ruling People Power Party, or PPP, claimed 12 out of 17 major gubernatorial and mayoral positions.
In the contest this week, the DP successfully flipped traditional conservative strongholds, including the crucial southeastern port city of Busan, while retaining its grip on the vital capital region of Gyeonggi Province, the western port of Incheon, and its traditional home turf in the South and North Jeolla provinces.
