The heated race for the 10 April general elections in South Korea ended with a landslide victory of the opposition bloc against President Yoon Suk Yeol’s governing People Power Party (PPP). The election outcome is a setback for Yoon as it would significantly impact his remaining three years in office. With his PPP securing only 108 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, Yoon is poised to be relegated to the status of a lame-duck president. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) clinched a landslide victory in significantly outperforming its rival, the conservative ruling PPP.

The victory solidifies the position of the liberal party and establishes an even larger opposition-dominated Assembly for the next four years. The DPK managed to win 175 seats out of 300. Broken down, this works out as 161 constituency wins plus 14 proportional representation seats secured by its satellite party, the Democratic United Party (DUP). The PPP obtained a total of 108 seats, including 18 gained through proportional representation by its satellite party, the People Future Party (PFP). This marks the third consecutive victory for the main opposition DPK, following the general elections held in 2016 when it was the main opposition and 2020 when it was the ruling party. The Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP) is a minor progressive party launched in March.

Led by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, it secured 12 seats through the proportional representation system. This marked a successful debut in its first election. Among other minor parties, the Reform Party led by former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok obtained three seats, the Saemirae Party, headed by former DPK Chairman Lee Nak-yon, and the Jinbo Party, secured one seat each. The opposition parties collectively secured over........

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