The RACE

 

Lee Jae-Myung On the Last Stage of the Race

Lee Jae-myung, a former governor of Gyeonggi Province and mayor of Seongnam, emerged as the candidate from the Democratic Party despite his position as a non-mainstream figure. Economic issues, such as rising housing prices and income inequality, were key election issues, and Yoon centered his campaign on economic recovery from COVID-19 and housing reform. Despite controversies and mutual accusations throughout the campaign, voters made decisions focused more on policies than personalities.

In the 2022 South Korean presidential election, the conservative People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol won the presidency. Held on March 9, the election saw a voter turnout of 77.1%, slightly lower than in 2017. Yoon received 48.56% of the total votes, narrowly defeating the Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, who garnered 47.83%, by a slim margin of 0.73%. This result marked one of the closest presidential elections in South Korea’s history.