[President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol] Lee 'Yeongnam' Yoon 'Honam'... Challenge to Overcome Regionalism

Yoon's Strong Majority in Yeongnam, Lee's in Honam
Opposition's Efforts in Strongholds Show Limits
Regional Divide Eases Compared to 19th Presidential Election
Seen as a Step Toward Resolving Regionalism

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The ‘regionalism’ pattern, where the Yeongnam and Honam regions overwhelmingly voted for the People Power Party and the Democratic Party candidates respectively in the 20th presidential election, remained solid. In the previous 19th presidential election, the Democratic Party had an advantage in Busan due to the impeachment wave against former President Park Geun-hye, but this election saw a return to the traditional regional rivalry.

President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol dominated candidate Lee Jae-myung in regions such as Daegu (75.14%), Gyeongbuk (72.76%), and Gyeongnam (58.24%), while Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung received overwhelming support in Jeonnam (86.10%), Gwangju (84.82%), and Jeonbuk (82.98%).

Initially, both sides aimed to perform well in the opponent’s stronghold starting this election. President-elect Yoon set a goal of achieving a ‘30% vote share’ in Honam, where conservative party support has been scarce, and aggressively courted voters by proposing agendas such as attracting a complex shopping mall to Gwangju. Candidate Lee, emphasizing his roots in Andong, Gyeongbuk, aimed to secure 30% of the vote in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK), a Democratic Party barren land, courting local sentiments. However, when the results came in, both candidates fell short of their initial vote targets, failing to overcome the so-called ‘regionalism’ barrier and missing the chance to capture the ‘wild rabbit’ votes.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

President-elect Yoon’s actual vote share in Honam remained in the 10% range, underperforming in Jeonnam (11.44%), Gwangju (12.72%), and Jeonbuk (14.42%). Although this was the highest record for a conservative party candidate from the People Power Party lineage, it was still in the low teens. Previously, in the 18th presidential election, former President Park Geun-hye recorded her highest vote shares in Gwangju at 7.76% and Jeonnam at 10%. Candidate Lee also campaigned under the slogan of ‘a Democratic Party president from Yeongnam,’ but lagged significantly behind candidate Yoon in Daegu (21.60%), Gyeongbuk (23.80%), and Gyeongnam (37.38%).

In the 2012 presidential election, which was also a two-candidate race like this one, then Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye secured overwhelming votes in Daegu (80.14%), Gyeongbuk (80.82%), and Gyeongnam (63.12%), while Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in swept Jeonnam (89.28%), Gwangju (91.97%), and Jeonbuk (86.25%). Although the degree was less pronounced than in the previous election, the regional voting pattern where a majority of votes are concentrated in certain areas was reaffirmed this time.

However, experts’ interpretations of the regionalism pattern varied. Professor Park Sang-byeong of Inha University said, “Both candidates pledged to break regionalism, but the election results did not reflect that. They challenged the regionalism by targeting the opponent party’s strongholds, but solid regionalism appeared again in this election.” On the other hand, Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University said, “It is difficult to completely resolve the long-established regionalism pattern with just one election. President-elect Yoon recorded the highest vote share for a conservative party candidate in Honam, and candidate Lee performed well in Gyeongnam. This suggests the beginning of the dissolution of regionalism voting.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.