Supporters take pictures with their cell phones and cheer as president-elect Moon Jae-in steps up on stage at Gwanghwamun, Seoul on the night of May 9. Kim Chang-gil

The public opinion expressed in the nineteenth presidential election on May 9 can be summarized as "a change of government" and "strong reforms." The voters' aspirations for stern judgment on nine years of mistakes in state administration by a conservative government and those responsible for the abuse of state authority, the elimination of a system benefiting conservatives with vested interests, who have dominated the South Korean society for decades, and the resolution of structural contradictions symbolized by "Hell Joseon" that have laid a heavy burden on the lives of the majority of our society all erupted in the latest election.
Moon Jae-in of the Minjoo Party of Korea practically secured his victory showing that the latest election was indeed about a change of government. Despite the not so weak anti-Moon Jae-in sentiment, Moon turned out to be the main trend, which can only be explained from this perspective. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party, who once was Moon's strongest competition, dropped to third place because he failed to clearly instill in the people's minds that Ahn Cheol-soo meant a new government as he drifted between the progressives and the conservatives. In the final stretch of the election, support for Liberty Korea Party's Hong Jun-pyo surged, causing some of supporters of Sim Sang-jeung of the Justice Party to veer toward Moon. This occurred because concerns of what might happen (Hong’s victory) persuaded these voters to prevent useless votes. Moon led the race in all regions except for Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, showing that the desire for a new government was shared by voters nationwide. This is also why the ideology debate, which was a cherished sword among the conservatives, was not very effective in the latest election.
Another characteristic of the latest election is the public's aspirations for strong reforms. The latest election was a race among five candidates and in it, Moon, who claimed to eradicate existing evils, and Sim, who called for fundamental and strong reforms, together accounted for over 45% of the votes as of 2:15 a.m. May 10. Nearly half of the voters demanded the new president to do slightly more than eradicate deep-rooted evils. It shows that the public wanted more than just a new government and wanted to resolve the socio-structural contradictions that have accumulated in the past decades. The overwhelming victory of the progressive and reformist groups including Moon has created an environment for the new government to push ahead with strong reforms in all aspects of our society including the chaebol and public authority agencies.
The voters strictly passed judgment on the forces responsible for the abuse of state authority in the latest scandal. Moon, Ahn, and Sim along with Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party, who came together for the impeachment, earned 73% of the votes, whereas Hong simply gained 25.3%. The percentage of people in favor and against the impeachment of Park Geun-hye (80:20) was reflected in the latest election. In other words, it was the public opinion expressed in the candlelight demonstrations that defined this election. The candlelight public led to a candlelight election.
The downfall of the conservatives is another striking feature in this election. Hong and Yoo, who have their roots in the old ruling party, only accounted for 31.9% of the votes in the interim results. On the other hand, Moon, Ahn and Sim accounted for 67.3% of the votes in the interim results. This shows that judgment on the past nine years under the conservative governments of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye was another zeitgeist that emerged in this election.
This election was held without any consolidation of the past ruling party or the past opposition parties and without any of the candidates coming together to support a single candidate. This reflects the cracks in ideological camps, which had dominated the South Korean society, such as the confrontation between the conservatives and the progressives, between those with vested interests and those seeking reforms, and between the ruling party and the opposition parties. According to the interim results, the votes divided among Moon, Ahn and Sim show that there was competition among the Minjoo Party, the People's Party and the Justice Party on progressive and reform policies, and the division of conservative votes between Hong and Yoo show that a race has begun between the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareun Party on reconstructing the conservatives. The four-party system in the April 13 parliamentary elections changed to a five-party system as the conservatives divided in the wake of Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, and this system continued for a year to the latest election. If future discussions on constitutional amendments and political reforms are carried out in this system, South Korea is likely to make a natural transition from a two-party system to a multi-party one.
In the same context, no one candidate is likely to obtain the majority of the votes in this election, creating a necessary condition for coalition and cooperation in state administration. In the Moon Jae-in government, the ruling Minjoo Party will have 120 seats in the National Assembly, while 179 seats will go to the opposition (Liberty Korea Party, People's Party, Bareun Party, Justice Party, independent). Without a coalition and cooperation, normal state administration will be impossible not to mention the enactment of reform bills. President-elect Moon will have to take on the difficult task of simultaneously executing reforms and promoting cooperation, values that seem contradictory in present-day South Korea.