Foreign

BREAKING NEWS: Moon Wins South Korean Presidential Election

Published

7 years ago

May 9, 2017

In a landslide victory, Moon Jae-in has defeated his opponents in the Presidential election to emerge as President of South Korea.

Moon Jae-in has been elected as the new President of South Korean in a landslide, according to an exit poll.

This comes after former President Park Geun-hye was removed over accusations of bribery and abuse-of-power which catalysed frustrations over jobs and slowing growth.

Left-leaning Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, has held a commanding lead in opinion polls for months, with the final Gallup Korea survey before a week-long pre-election blackout giving him 38 per cent support, followed by former tech mogul Ahn Cheol-soo on 20 percent, AFP reported.

“I feel the people’s strong will to change the government… We can make it a reality only when we vote”, Moon said after casting his ballot with his wife at a polling station in western Seoul.

Hong Joon-pyo, of Park’s Liberty Korea party, who languished in third place in the 13-strong field on 16 percent, urged voters to support him, branding Moon as a “pro-Pyongyang leftist”.

Chung Tae-wan, a 72-year-old doctor, cast his ballot at a polling station in the prosperous Seocho district of the capital. “I voted for Hong, as security (against North Korea) is the most important thing”, he told AFP.

Kim Kyung-min, 24, said she cast her ballot in advance last week. “I was so disappointed in Park and the establishment”, she told AFP, but refused to say whom she voted for.

More than 139,000 voting stations opened at 6 am local time across the country under overcast skies, with turnout expected to hit a record high.