[AmericanInTokyo]

Hats off to FReeper "TigerLikesRooster" whom we hope can also join us today and comment on this important event, and welcome to many other FR Korea watchers.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Ping!

[AmericanInTokyo]

It would appear from networks KBS, MBC and SBS that the order is:

RINO/APPEASER (top), SOCIALIST/APPEASER (second), and CONSERVATIVE/ANTI COMMUNIST (third)

At the very least, Roh's party, after five years, has been kicked out of the Blue House (S. Korean White House), it would initially seem.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Any pre-election opinion polls?

[fieldmarshaldj]

A RINO replacing a Socialist. In other words, no change of regime except the party label.

[AmericanInTokyo]

About 18% of the vote is counted as of 6:40 a.m. Eastern Time.

KBS, the main national TV network, has called the election for the RINO (of the conservative party Hanara Dan [Grand National Party] as the winner. They had him at something like 45% of the vote, and 28% for the outright Socialist.

It seems more than anything else, Koreans voted their pocketbooks, because ruling President Roh just managed to screw up the economy no end.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Lowest election turnout since 1987 Presidential election.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

bkmarking for later. Thanks for posting.

[SevenofNine]

I wonder who won

[TigerLikesRooster]

Sorry, I am out for yesterday, and could not contribute.
It seems to happen whenever important local event occur.:-)

A rather disappointing result. Whatever happens to S. Korea now lands squarely on Lee Myung-bak and his supporters.

I hope they would not say again that they wanted to cut off their fingers (for marking Lee Myung-bak’s slot on the ballot stub.)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Silver lining:

Lee Hoi-chang got just over 15%. This is significant for Lee Hoi-chang, because a candidate with more than 15% of support will get his election expense reimbursed by S. Korean law. Since Lee Hoi-chang did not spend much because he cannot get much financial help, he gets much more than what he spent, enough to be seed money for a real conservative party of his.

So he can still be around as a viable force to check Lee Myung-bak.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Since Lee Hoi-chang did not spend much because he cannot get much financial help, he gets much more than what he spent, enough to be seed money for a real conservative party of his.

It turns out that the comment above is slightly wrong. The candidate with more than 15% support gets all his campaign expense and advance deposit(a candidate should give $500K to the election commission) back. He will not be strained financially. Besides, 15% support could be significant enough to launch a new party.