South Korea sets election date to replace ousted president
The June 3 election will replace Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office after being impeached for attempting to impose martial law.
South Korea will hold a presidential election on June 3 to replace ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol, the country’s acting leader Han Duck-soo has announced.
Tuesday’s announcement came days after the Constitutional Court removed Yoon from office over his ill-fated imposition of martial law in December.
Deep political polarisation is likely to shape the election, which is expected to be a two-way showdown between the two major political parties – Yoon’s conservative People Power Party and its chief liberal rival, the Democratic Party.
The focus of attention is on whether conservatives can regroup and field a strong candidate to compete against the likely Democratic candidate Lee Jae-myung.
It will be an uphill battle for the governing People’s Power Party to hold on to power as it struggles to restore public confidence and heal a severe internal division triggered by Yoon’s martial law stunt.
Political parties are expected to launch primaries to select their presidential candidates in the coming weeks.
The Democratic Party candidate is expected to be Mr Lee, a powerful party leader who faces no major challengers inside the party. He narrowly lost the 2022 election to Yoon and led the party through a crisis during which many of its members faced off against troops sent by Yoon to surround the National Assembly and vote to lift martial law, as well as the later vote to impeach the president.
About 10 politicians from the People Power Party are expected to throw their hats in for the party’s primary.
The most high-profile aspirants are Labour minister Kim Moon Soo, Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon, Daegu mayor Hong Joon-pyo, former party leader Han Dong-hoon and senior party member Ahn Cheol-soo.
