South Korean President Lee Myung Bak got a boost this week from parliamentary elections that gave fellow conservatives a majority in the National Assembly. The results provide a modicum of relief for "the bulldozer" but he is still going to have to struggle to implement his policy agenda. Ironically, his real challenge may come from the right, not the left.
Upon capturing the Blue House last December, Mr. Lee set his sights on the National Assembly, where progressive forces have been in the majority: In the last legislature, the liberal United Democratic Party (UDP) held 141 of the 299 seats, while the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), of which Mr. Lee is a member, held 128. (Those numbers shifted somewhat in the runup to elections: Factions break off to form smaller parties ahead of elections and usually re-merge with the main parties after the vote.) Implementation of the new president's aggressive probusiness agenda requires a supportive legislature. A division of power between the legislative and executive branches would have been a recipe for stalemate.
Fortunately for Mr. Lee, voters heard his plea for unified government and delivered the GNP a majority in this week's ballot. The GNP managed to hold 153 seats while the UDP's share had plunged to 81. Two small conservative parties picked up 32 seats, and the remainder was divided among independent candidates and smaller parties.