By Josh Smith and Sangmi Cha
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Koreans went to the polls on Wednesday in a special election for key city offices that could see conservative gains amid political scandals and policy missteps by President Moon Jae-in’s leading liberal party.
Up for grabs are the mayors of the country’s two largest cities, the capital Seoul and the port city of Busan, among other positions.
Both mayoral offices were vacated when their liberal incumbents were caught up in sex-abuse scandals, including the longtime Seoul mayor who in July was found dead after being accused of sexually harassing a former secretary.
The scandals have combined with runaway home prices, deepening inequality and souring ties with North Korea to sap political support from Moon and his progressive Democratic Party.
The last polls allowed to be released before Wednesday’s elections predicted a landslide victory by the main opposition People Power Party in both Seoul and Busan.
The Democratic contender in Seoul, Park Young-sun, has claimed she has since narrowed the gap.
People Power candidate Oh Se-hoon has faced questions over his involvement in property development controversies from his time as Seoul mayor a decade ago.
Accusations that officials at South Korea’s state housing corporation tried to use insider information to cash in on runaway property prices threw new fuel on that issue ahead of the special election.
With a year to go until the next presidential election, polls suggest the housing scandal is boosting the conservative opposition, which has been in disarray since the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.
Moon came to power in the wake of Park’s scandals, promising to generate jobs, crack down on corruption, and create a level playing field for all Koreans.
But anger at the perceived failures of his economic policies has wiped out earlier surges in his approval ratings driven by the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, dragging down the numbers to all-time lows in recent weeks.
Health authorities urged voters to comply with anti-pandemic measures at polling stations.
(Reporting by Josh Smith and Sangmi Cha; Editing by Stephen Coates)
