Ferry tragedy weighs on ROK ruling party in nationwide vote

A boy waits for his mother as she marks her ballot in a voting booth during local elections at a polling station in Seoul on Wednesday. Kim Hong-ji / Reuters

Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye's conservative party fought close races on Wednesday in regional and mayoral elections seen as a referendum on the government's handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people in April.

Exit polls released after the close of voting at 6 pm showed candidates from the ruling conservative party were heading for victory in five of the 17 key mayoral and provincial races.

Opposition candidates were likely to win in five. The seven other races were too close to call, the polls showed.

The sinking of the ferry Sewol has sidelined traditional campaign issues, such as jobs, education and welfare, and focused attention on the perceived failure of Asia's fourth-largest economy to enforce safety standards.

"I voted this time with a focus on safety, rather than the economy," 26-year-old Ahn Jin-young said after casting her vote in the capital, Seoul.

Another voter, Kim Soo-hyun, said the Sewol incident led her to vote against the government. "I'm giving the opposition a chance this time as a way to reproach the government," she said.

Park's approval ratings fell from 61 to 46 percent in the days after the April 16 ferry disaster - her lowest since coming to power in February 2013 - and show little sign of improving.

Lose in Seoul

Candidates from the opposition look set to win the mayoral race in Seoul and in its traditional stronghold in the southwest, the exit polls showed. These polls were conducted jointly by three television networks.

Park's conservative Saenuri Party was ahead in the southeast, where it traditionally performs strongly, the polls showed.

Close races in the cities of Incheon and Busan and in other contested districts indicated the party was unlikely to suffer landslide defeats.

Polls by Gallup Korea in late May suggested that more than 40 percent of voters still support the Saenuri Party. Only 28 percent said they support the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

About 40 percent of ROK voters are older than 50 and traditionally vote conservative, unlike younger people, who are less likely to cast ballots.

The opposition has been careful not to campaign on the government's handling of the ferry disaster because distrust of politicians has increased across the board. The elections are the first nationwide polls since Park took office.

The Saenuri Party staked its campaign on Park's pledge to reform government bureaucracy and improve safety oversight, arguing that the ferry sinking presented an opportunity for change.

"Korea after the Sewol disaster must be different from Korea before the disaster," said senior Saenuri official Lee Wan-koo. "We need to reform this country ... and create a safe country."

Liberal Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, of the NPAD, was leading his conservative rival by 10 percentage points and was expected to retain his post, seen by some as a springboard to the presidency, the exit polls showed.

The Sewol sank on a routine trip south from Incheon to the holiday island of Jeju. More than 300 people were killed, most of them students from a high school on the outskirts of Seoul.

The ferry was heavily overloaded, was traveling too fast while turning, and many of its crew abandoned ship as the students waited in their cabins as instructed.