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SEOUL: South Korea's newly-elected President Lee Myung Bak has been in office for a month. He is a conservative who won a landslide victory after two successive liberal presidents.
Mr Lee is desperate to see his ruling party gain a majority in the National Assembly, which is now controlled by the liberals.
His ruling party had looked certain to win a majority in the parliamentary elections next month, similar to the landslide victory in the December election that had put Mr Lee in the presidential Blue House.
But now, one month after he took office, it is not so certain anymore.
The president needs his party to win a majority to allow him to pass sweeping reforms aimed at reviving the economy – something he had pledged during his presidential campaign.
Support for the president and his ruling Grand National Party has dropped amid fierce factional fighting over nominations for parliamentary seats.
Former head of the ruling party Park Geun Hye and her supporters have also turned their backs on Mr Lee. Ms Park heads the ruling party's second-largest faction, but many of her supporters quit the party after failing to get nominations to run in the race.
Before all this, the ruling Grand National Party had 130 seats in the 299-member National Assembly, compared with 135 seats for the liberal United Democratic Party.
Analysts said many Koreans are fed-up and disappointed.
Kang Won Taek, Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy, Soongsil University, said: "An election allows our society to make a choice and decide on our future, and so there are expectations and hopes. That's why it's very depressing to see the candidates' diverse feud and their fight over seats. We haven't seen anything productive from them. "
Campaigning for the parliamentary election starts on Thursday. More than 1,000 candidates are running in this election, like former foreign minister Song Min Soon and former defence minister Kim Jang Soo.
The former unification minister Chung Dong Young is also in the race, following his defeat in the presidential election.
This parliamentary election is expected to see the most number of candidates, but there are rising concerns that the voter turnover will be about 50 percent – the lowest in the country's history of National Assembly elections.
This election will decide if Mr Lee will have a tough or smooth five years in office. Analysts said the ruling party is still expected to win - but with a narrow margin.
- CNA/so
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