Ruling party projected to secure sweeping win in local elections

“The governing Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is projected to dominate Wednesday’s local elections, with exit polls showing it leading in majority key races while the conservative People Power Party (PPP) trails across the nationwide map. According to a joint exit poll, released at 6 p.m. by major broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, DPK candidates were leading in 11 of the nation’s 16 mayoral and gubernatorial contests, while the PPP is ahead in just one. Contests in four cities and provinces — Busan, Daegu, Gangwon and North Jeolla — were too close to call as of 9 p.m. In the closely watched Seoul mayoral race, DPK candidate Chong Won-o led the race at 51.4 percent, outpacing incumbent Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the PPP, who stood at 46 percent. In Busan, the nation’s second-largest city, DPK candidate Chun Jae-soo narrowly led with 50.2 percent over PPP Mayor Park Heong-joon’s 48.3 percent, but the gap was within the margin of error of 1.7 percentage points to 4.1 percentage points. In Daegu, long regarded as one of the PPP’s strongholds, PPP candidate Choo Kyung-ho clung to a razor-

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