[Yoon Seok-yeol Elected] People Power Party's Night of 'Despair and Joy'... Cheers for the Golden Cross

Exit Poll Neck-and-Neck Leaves Situation Room Frozen
Cheers Erupt as Approval Ratings Flip

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Bomryeong Geum and Juni Park] Amid the unprecedentedly tight presidential election, the People Power Party spent a long night oscillating between despair and joy for eight and a half hours from the announcement of the exit polls until the confirmation of President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's victory.

Until 7:30 PM on the 9th, before the exit poll results from the three terrestrial broadcasters and JTBC were released, the atmosphere inside the People Power Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Library auditorium was highly charged. This was because, based on the party’s own internal survey results earlier that morning, it was predicted that President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol would win by a landslide margin of around 10 percentage points.

However, as soon as the exit poll results were announced, the venue instantly froze. Contrary to expectations, a razor-thin race was predicted between Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon. The party leadership, including Party Leader Lee Jun-seok, Floor Leader Kim Ki-hyun, and Campaign Headquarters Chief Kwon Young-se, seated in the front row of the situation room, could not hide their stunned expressions.

Even in the early stages of vote counting, as Candidate Lee maintained a lead, tension lingered in the situation room. Eventually, the leadership, including Leader Lee, began leaving their seats one after another, leaving the inside of the situation room almost empty.

The leadership of the People Power Party is watching candidate Yoon Seok-yeol closely as the three major broadcasters' exit poll results show a tight race in the vote counting situation room set up at the National Assembly Library on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

The situation quickly changed as President-elect Yoon’s support rate caught up with Candidate Lee’s. Around midnight on the 10th, when the gap between Yoon and Lee narrowed to within 1 percentage point, Floor Leader Kim and Chief Kwon entered the situation room, clapping and shouting "Fighting." Policy Chief Won Hee-ryong, as well as Supreme Council member Representative Bae Hyun-jin, also returned, raising the atmosphere. Floor Leader Kim even sent a text message urging, "All members of the National Assembly, please gather immediately in the situation room."

At around 12:30 AM, when the vote counting rate surpassed 50%, President-elect Yoon’s votes overtook Candidate Lee’s, achieving the so-called ‘golden cross,’ prompting cheers in the situation room. The leadership showed their joy by giving high-fives.

Shortly after 2 AM, when KBS’s vote counting broadcast showed Yoon as ‘likely’ to win, the leadership and lawmakers in the situation room stood up, raising their arms and shouting "Yoon Seok-yeol," "President," and so on. Then, about ten minutes before 4 AM, as the vote counting rate reached 98% and the victory was confirmed, the lawmakers applauded for one minute.

Immediately after the confirmation, President-elect Yoon moved from his residence to the vote counting situation room. Even Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party who had unified the opposition, gathered to join hands and shout three cheers of ‘regime change,’ savoring the joy of their presidential election victory.

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