The ruling People Power Party (PPP) predicts to gain about 90-100 seats in next week’s parliamentary elections, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) projects to win 110 seats or higher, their own latest forecasts showed Wednesday.
With seven days to go before the elections, the predictions show the PPP has slightly revised up the outlook on how many seats it will likely win out of a total of 254 directly contested seats. The previous projection was between 74-82 seats.
South Korea will go to the polls next Wednesday to elect lawmakers for the next four years. The race has largely been about a showdown between the PPP seeking to add more seats and the DP aiming to retain its parliament majority.
Up for grabs are 300 National Assembly seats, including 46 proportional representation slots.
In the 2020 parliamentary elections, the DP clinched a landslide victory with 163 seats. The United Future Party, the PPP’s predecessor, won 84 seats.
The two parties’ latest forecasts did not include the prop
ortional seats.
The PPP said it adjusted the election outlook as it identified positive signs in the polls in some competing districts, after some issues that had gripped the party were resolved, notably the controversial appointment of the ambassador to Australia who later resigned, a PPP official said.
“We’ve seen some changes in our favor in some competing districts in the Seoul metropolitan and Chungcheong regions,” the official said.
While the “110 seats or higher” prediction stays unchanged for the DP, the party struck a cautious note about how the elections will unfold, given that there are more than 50 constituencies it expects to be in a close race.
“There are so many battlegrounds in areas like the metropolitan, Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang, so it’s impossible to guarantee the outcome of the elections,” a DP official said.
The DP plans to announce Thursday its analysis of the elections based on the latest poll trends and predictions.
Forecasts by the parties’ municipal and regional bases
provided bolder predictions, with the DP likely to win 146 seats and the PPP to gain 80 seats.
Nationwide, the PPP expected that some 40 constituencies will be in a tight race. The DP picked 44.
In Seoul and the metropolitan area surrounding the capital, where the crucial 122 seats are up for grabs, the PPP predicted to win 13 seats and the DP forecast to gain 78 seats. In the previous elections, the PPP won 16 and the DP swept 103 seats.
For the central Chungcheong region, the PPP largely predicted wins in counties, as opposed to the DP betting wins in the city areas.
Both parties were almost certain about clinching a victory in their traditional strongholds — the Daegu city and North Gyeongsang Province in the country’s southeast for the PPP, and Gwangju and the southwestern regions of Jeolla for the DP.
Some parts of Busan, the second most populous city in South Korea, and Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province were expected to be in a close race.
The PPP was confident about having an upper hand in the
eastern Gangwon Province, while the DP forecast that it has an advantage on the southernmost island of Jeju.
The minor Justice Party said it is aiming to keep its six seats in the parliament and one or two proportional seats, although the prospects appear dim.
The New Reform Party, formed by former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, aims to win at least one direct seat. The Korea Innovation Party, led by disgraced former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, kept hopes high for more than 10 proportional seats, backed by its recent rise in approval rating.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
