Park Geun-hye’s party loses in local elections

President Park Geu-hye’s Saenuri Party appears to have lost the local elections held nationwide on Wednesday.

According to exit polls conducted by local broadcasters, candidates for Seoul metropolitan region including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon lost by a margin as of 18:00, Korean Standard Time.

The winning main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy will play a bigger role for the domestic politics, and they will gain the majority among 17 election districts. The opposition will be the winner of the of superintendent.

The defeat in this election will be a heavy political burden on President Park, and she will have more difficulties in carrying out her own political agenda in the future.

She has experienced blunders in nominating high-ranking officials, including recent failed nomination of former prosecutor Ahn Dae-hee as a Prime Minister for the outgoing Prime Minister Cheong Hong-won. She has yet to nominate another.

Reports say that the overall outcome of the elections will be known at around 23:00, KST.