December 19, 2012 (Wed.) The 18th Presidential Election

The 18th presidential election was held in the same year as the election for the National Assembly members for the first time in 20 years. Amid the absence of clear and differentiated policies or a specific key agenda, it was ultimately the Seanuri Party and the Democratic United Party that were the frontrunners of the election. However, due to the public distrust in the existing politics and their desire for a new political spectrum, the so-called “Ahn, Chul-su Syndrome” emerged. With the expansion of smartphones candidates began actively utilizing Social Media represented by Ka-Fa-T (Kakao Talk, Facebook, Twitter) for campaigning.
For the first time in history, voting became possible while aboard a ship so that seamen could exercise their right to vote at sea. In addition, the opening time of polling stations for absentee voting changed from 10 to 6 in the morning to guarantee constituents their right to vote. In order to avoid the controversy over possible tampering aroused during the 19th election of members to the National Assembly due to some unclosed and unsealed ballot boxes transported, the material of the ballot box was changed from paper to reinforced plastic with an electronic chip embedded in the ballot box for the 18th presidential election.
Three candidates from each party and seven independent candidates participated in the election. However, two days before the election, Lee, Jung-hee from the Unified Progressive Party resigned. Park, Geun-hye (Saenuri Party) took the victory. She was elected as the 18th president earning 15,773,128 out of 30,721,459 valid votes with 51.55% of approval ratings, defeating the second runner, Moon, Jae-in from the Democratic United Party with 48.02%. As such, the Saenuri Party was able to maintain its status as the ruling party.
The 18th presidential election has been recognized as an election marked by its groundbreaking institutional change and development to guarantee voters their voting rights and free political participation, compared to the 17th election.