On March 9, 2022, South Korea elected the main conservative party’s Yoon Suk-yeol as its new president to serve the country for the next five years beginning from May 10, 2022. While the campaign to succeed the incumbent President Moon Jae-in was a fierce neck-and-neck race between former Prosecutor General Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), Yoon ultimately won by a slim margin of 0.8 percentage points over Lee. Amid another surge of COVID-19 infections, voter turnout reached over 77 percent with approximately 34 million out of around 44.2 million eligible voters casting ballots.
The PPP took this as an opportunity to reorganize the party and make it more "youth-friendly" by appointing 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok as party chairman. Candidate Yoon further promised to make it easier for young people to buy their first house and to raise the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. His emphasis on equality and fairness in society, which have proved to be lacking in many areas of South Korea, was also a strategic move to impress young voters. Candidate Lee, on the other hand, distanced himself from Moon's real estate policy and promised to give priority to youths in the allocation of public housing and to introduce an annual basic income of one million South Korean won for 19 to 29-year-olds.
Who were the South Korean presidential candidates?
Following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017, the Democratic Party and its new President Moon became South Korea's ruling party. With Moon’s high approval ratings, the beginning of his term was promising, but that quickly changed in the middle of his term. Skyrocketing housing prices, youth unemployment, social polarization, and political scandals surrounding the ruling party ultimately led to the Democrats being defeated by the conservatives in the April 2021 mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan. The conservatives' victory was largely due to young voters, especially young male voters.The PPP took this as an opportunity to reorganize the party and make it more "youth-friendly" by appointing 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok as party chairman. Candidate Yoon further promised to make it easier for young people to buy their first house and to raise the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. His emphasis on equality and fairness in society, which have proved to be lacking in many areas of South Korea, was also a strategic move to impress young voters. Candidate Lee, on the other hand, distanced himself from Moon's real estate policy and promised to give priority to youths in the allocation of public housing and to introduce an annual basic income of one million South Korean won for 19 to 29-year-olds.
