South Korea's new president-elect harnessed widespread public discontent and disillusionment to win Wednesday's election but the same volatile forces that brought him to power may complicate his efforts to enact reforms, analysts said.
Conservative People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, a former prosecutor-general who had never run for office before, won in the closest election in decades after a bruising campaign marred by scandals and gaffes.
Polls have shown for months that South Koreans wanted change, as voters who helped centre-left incumbent Moon Jae-in win in 2017 grew frustrated with his administration's failure to curb runaway home prices and narrow economic divides. Yoon has promised to rein in property prices, implement a 100-day emergency plan for the pandemic-hit economy, build more than 2.5 million apartments, cut capital gains taxes and deregulate knock-and-rebuild homes.
"It feeds into this idea that the liberals are similar to the conservatives, so it doesn't make much difference who you vote for," said Ramon Pacheco Pardon, a Korea expert at King's College, London.
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