Sarah Stephen
South Korea's April 15 general election has resulted in a shift to the left.
Ten representatives to the 299-member parliament were elected from the labour movement-based Democratic Labor Party. The DLP, which previously had no representation in the assembly, won 13% of the party vote. The introduction of a second ballot to allot seats under the proportional representation system helped the DLP emerge as the third largest party.
The DLP has become the first workers' movement party to win seats in national elections since the founding of the Republic of Korea through a violent, US-led counter-revolution in 1948-53. The new parliamentarians include leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.
The DLP announced at a press conference in April that it is ready to introduce a bill into parliament blocking the dispatch of South Korean troops to Iraq, which parliament voted for in February.
The DLP's political platform calls for the pull-out of 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea and rapid reconciliation with North Korea. Economically, it demands a shorter work week, workers' participation in management and heavy taxes on the wealthy to finance free medical services and education. It also opposes free trade agreements.
The liberal Uri Party, backed by recently impeached former president Roh Moo-huyng, emerged the forerunner in the election, with 152 seats. The conservative Grand National Party won only 121 seats, and will no longer command a simple majority.
Former president Kim Dae-jung's Millennium Democratic Party won only nine seats. Forty-seven parliamentary members left the MDP to form the Uri Party in 2003 to support Moo-hyun.
Less than one-third of representatives were able to hold onto their seats. Six parties gained seats, the largest number since 1985.
The new assembly will also have a stronger representation of women, with 39 elected, more than doubling the 16 women elected in 2000. Pressured by women's groups, major parties allotted half of their proportional representatives to women.
From Green Left Weekly, April 21, 2004.
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