Presidential election in South Korea 2017

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19th presidential election
May 9, 2017
Votes						32,800,000
voter turnout
						77.2% ▲  1.4%
			Deobureo Minju Party (Joint Democratic Party)
			Moon Jae-in
			be right				13,423,800
									41.08%
			Jayu-hanguk Party (Freedom Party)
			Hong Jun-pyo
			be right				7,852,849
									24.03%
			Gungminui Party (Citizens' Party)
			Ahn Cheol-soo
			be right				6,998,342
									21.41%
			Bareun Party (Right Party)
			Yoo Seong-min
			be right				2,208,771
									6.76%
			Jeongui Party (Justice Party)
			Sim Sang-young
			be right				2,017,458
									6.17%
Election results
President of South Korea
Pre-election Park Geun-hye Hwang Kyo-ahn Saenuri Party (New World Party)						Elected Moon Jae-in Deobureo-minju party

The 19th presidential election in South Korea took place on May 9, 2017. The early election became necessary after previous President Park Geun-hye was removed from office on March 10, 2017 due to a corruption scandal. The regular election should not take place until December 2017.

The decision on the new head of state was made by majority vote (ie without a runoff ) in one go. In South Korea, presidencies are limited to one term.

According to the official final result of the South Korean Electoral Commission, Moon Jae-in from the Deobureo minju party won with 41.08 percent of the vote. The turnout was 77.2 percent.

background

History and candidate selection

Park Geun-hye of the conservative Saenuri Party won the previous 2012 presidential election , succeeding Lee Myung-bak of the same party. In South Korea, the parliamentary elections, which take place every four years, and the presidential elections, which take place every five years, are separated in time. The Saenuri party lost its majority in the parliamentary elections in April 2016 . The media has since referred to Park as the Lame Duck . Park tried to make a name for himself with plans for constitutional reform. The system with a term of five years is out of date. A survey by Realmeter showed that 70% of South Koreans share this view. However, the proposal coincided with the emerging corruption scandal and the movement for the resignation of President Park Geun-hye , which resulted in numerous protests. As a result, the proposal was immediately criticized by the opposition and Park's intention was questioned. The corruption scandal turned into a national crisis and on November 12th, around a million people protested against Park.

On March 10, 2017, Park Geun-hye was removed from office by the Constitutional Court. As a result, the 2017 election did not take place in December, as planned, but had to be held within 60 days of the impeachment. The election was scheduled for May 9th. During this period, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn took over the state duties .

Hwang announced in March that he would not be available as a candidate. At the beginning of February, the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that he would not stand. Both were considered the most promising candidates on the conservative spectrum in polls. Opinion polls at the beginning of January saw Ban in second place behind Moon Jae-in with a clear lead over the next-placed Lee Jae-myung, Ahn Cheol-soo and Ahn Hee-jung.

At the nomination convention of the conservative Jayu-hanguk Party (Freedom Party of Korea) on March 31, Governor Hong Jun-pyo clearly opposed MP Kim Jin-tae (a supporter of Parks), party veterans Rhee In-jae and with 54.15% the governor Kim Kwan-yong of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province .

Within the Deobureo-minju (Joint Democratic Party) party, the left-wing liberal Moon Jae-in and the more center-electorate governor of Chungcheongnam-do Ahn Hee-jung (both former close associates of former President Roh Moo-hyun ) as favorites. In addition, the mayor of were Seongnam , Lee Jae-myung , given opportunities. After Moon was clearly leading in the polls from the start, he also clearly prevailed in the primaries with 57% against Ahn and Lee with 21.5 and 21.2% and the mayor of Goyang Choi Sung with 0.3%.

The centrist Gungminui party nominated the former software entrepreneur Ahn Cheol-soo , who clearly prevailed with 75% against the former opposition leader son Hak-kyu and the speaker of the national assembly Park Joo-sun . While in opinion polls Moon Jae-in was still clearly ahead of Ahn Cheol-soo, it became apparent that if the two conservative candidates withdrew, Ahn could win a majority.

Content-related topics

In addition to the personnel issue, political issues were discussed during the election campaign. The focus was on the international crisis triggered by the North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un and his nuclear weapons ambitions . In contrast to earlier statements, Moon Jae-in emphasized that he was open to a direct dialogue with Kim. Hong Joon-pyo, the Freedom Party candidate, accused Moon of being too soft on the issue. Hong and Ahn Cheol-soo spoke out in favor of deploying the American anti- missile defense system THAAD against North Korean missile attacks. Moon, however, called the deployment "very unfortunate". Another topic was the structure of the South Korean economy, which is still heavily controlled by extensive family companies ( Jaebeol ), which also exercise political influence, as was shown again in the scandal surrounding former President Park. All candidates and parties promised measures to reduce the influence of the Jaebeol . The unemployment of young workers, which in the age group from 25 to 29 years of age reached 8.2 percent in November 2016 by Korean standards since 1999, was also an issue. Here all the candidates promised to take action. Moon wanted higher income taxes and more jobs in the public sector, while Ahn wanted private sector support.

Nominees

• Ahn Cheol-soo ( Gungminui Party ), former party chairman (2016), former party chairman of the New Political Alliance for Democracy (March-July 2014), retired presidential candidate 2012, founder of AhnLab, Inc., member of the Gukhoe for Nowon-gu ( since 2013)
• Hong Jun-pyo ( Jayu-hanguk Party ), Governor of Gyeongsangnam-do (since 2012)
• Moon Jae-in ( Deobureo-minju party ), former party leader (2015-2016), member of the Gukhoe for Busan (2012-16), presidential candidate of the Minju-tonghap party in the 2012 presidential election in South Korea
• Sim Sang-jung ( Jeongui Party ), party leader (since 2015), member of the Gukhoe for Goyang (2004–2008, since 2012)
• Yoo Seong-min ( Bareun Party ), member of the Gukhoe for Daegu (since 2004)

Survey

Development of opinion polls

In the two weeks leading up to the election date, there was a clear drop in poll numbers for Ahn Cheol-soo, which fell by almost 10%, while on the other hand, the numbers for Hong Yun-pyo rose in parallel.

Institute	date	Moon Jae-in	Shim Sang-jung	Ahn Cheol-soo	Yoo Seong-min	Hong Jun-pyo	Others
Gallup Korea	04/07/2017	38%	3%	35%	4%	7%	0%

Results

Nationwide result

candidate	Political party	percent	be right
Moon Jae-in (문재인)	Deobureo Minju Party (더불어 민주당) (Joint Democratic Party)	41.1%	13,423,800
Hong Jun-pyo (홍준표)	Jayu-hanguk Party (자유 한국당) (Freedom Party of Korea)	24.0%	7,852,849
Ahn Cheol-soo (안철수)	Gungminui Party (국민 의 당) (Citizens' Party)	21.4%	6,998,342
Yoo Seong-min (유승민)	Bareun Party (바른 정당) (Right Party)	6.8%	2,208,771
Sim Sang-jung (심상정)	Jeongui Party (정의당) (Justice Party)	6.2%	2,017,458
10 other candidates together		0.5%	170.955
total		100.0%	32,807,908

• Regional share of the votes of the top five candidates
• 

  Moon Jae-in
  (Deobureo-minju party)

• 

  Hong Jun-pyo
  (Jayu-hanguk party)

• 

  Ahn Cheol-soo
  (Gungminui Party)

• 

  Yoo Seong-min
  (Bareun Party)

• 

  Sim Sang-jung
  (Jeongui Party)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kim Da-sol: What Tuesday's election failed to achieve. In: The Korea Herald . May 10, 2017, accessed May 10, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Korea's presidential election to be held May 9. In: The Korea Times . March 15, 2017, accessed March 15, 2017 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Park si-soo, Lee Han-soo: Moon Jae-in wins Korean presidency. In: The Korea Times . May 9, 2017, accessed May 9, 2017 . 
4. ^ Moon officially starts presidency. In: The Korea Times . May 10, 2017, accessed May 10, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Kang Seung-woo: President Park stuck in political limbo. In: The Korea Times . June 20, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Conservative rout leaves South Korea's Park Geun-hye a lame duck. In: The Australian. April 15, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Hiroshi Minegishi: Park fights 'lame duck' label with constitutional reform push. In: Nikkei Asian Review. October 25, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
8. ^ ^{A b} South Korea's Park proposes multiple-term presidency. Reuters , October 24, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
9. ^ South Korea: thousands of protesters call for president to resign. In: The Guardian . October 29, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Kim Hyo-jin: Opposition questions Park's intent. In: The Korea Times . October 25, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Choi Ha-young, Kim Bo-eun: ONE MILLION protesters storm Seoul's streets, demanding Park's resignation. In: The Korea Times . November 12, 2016, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
12. ^ South Korean constitutional court rules President Park Geun-hye must leave office. Deutsche Welle , March 10, 2017, accessed on March 15, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Moon's lead widens after PM drops out of race. In: Korea Times. March 16, 2017.
14. ↑ Ban Ki-moon drops presidential bid In: Korea Times. 1st February 2017.
15. ↑ Ban Ki-moon's likability numbers take a 20.8% tumble. In: Korea Joongang Daily. January 3, 2017
16. ^ South Gyeongsang Gov. Hong wins Liberty Korea Party's presidential nomination. In: Yonhap News. March 31, 2017.
17. ^ Moon, Ban begin race for presidency. In: Korea Times. 15th January 2017
18. ↑ Moon clinches early lead for DP's nomination. In: Korea Joongang Daily. March 28, 2017
19. ↑ Moon clinches nomination DP. In: Korea Joongang Daily. 3rd April 2017
20. ↑ Ahn Cheol-soo takes sweeping victory in latest round of party primary. In: Yonhap News. March 30, 2017
21. ^ Ahn coasts to People's Party nomination. In: Korea Joongang Daily. 4th April 2017
22. ↑ Gerry Mullanymay: South Korea's Presidential Election: A Look at the Issues Pivotal. The New York Times, May 8, 2017, accessed May 11, 2017 . 
23. ^ Matthew Bevan: South Korea's unusual presidential election: Meet the candidates. ABC News Australia, May 8, 2017, accessed May 11, 2017 . 
24. ^ Ahn wins pivotal People's Party first primary. In: Korea Joongang Daily. March 27, 2017.
25. ↑ 원유철 대선 출마 선언… 안상수 도 출사표 채비: 네이버 뉴스 . News.naver.com. 3rd February 2017.
26. ↑ 심상정 첫 대선 공약 “출산 휴가 120 일로 늘리 겠다”: 네이버 뉴스 . News.naver.com. 23rd January 2017.
27. ^ Park's ex-aide wins presidential nomination of conservative party. In: Yonhap . March 28, 2017, accessed March 28, 2017 . 
28. ↑ 갤럽 여론 조사 발표, 안철수 '서울 TK 서 문재인 앞섰다!' In: Naver . Gallup Korea, April 7, 2017, accessed April 7, 2017 (Korean).