The end of the general election this year not only indicates the start of the next parliamentary term but also the beginning of an even bigger year-end political race.

This is the first time in two decades that the parliamentary elections and the presidential election are taking place in the same year.

Wednesday’s race was both a test of leadership for presidential potentials and a chance for parties to win a parliamentary majority and the upper hand in the December election.

The top priority task for Rep. Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s leader and top presidential hopeful, in the run up to the election was to distance herself from the unpopular Lee Myung-bak administration.

She had intended to lay low until after the general election but was pushed to take the interim chairmanship late last year amid calls for the party’s renewal.

Park’s target in Wednesday’s race was at least 121 seats for her party to maintain her reputation as the “queen of elections.”

The minimum figure is the number of seats that Park safeguarded as chairwoman in the 17th parliamentary race in 2004, when public sentiment was unfavorable toward the GNP for its impeachment of former President Roh Moo-hyun.

Though some doubt her leadership, it is generally agreed that she displayed her potential in those years by pulling the party out of its worst crisis.

“This year’s elections are almost as challenging as those in 2004,” said Rep. Cho Yoon-sun, spokesperson of the party’s election committee, in a radio interview Wednesday. “Should the party win more than 121 seats, we may take it that the voters approved of our renewal efforts.”

Park’s challenge was not only to defeat her liberal rivals but also to shake off the competition of in-party figures such as Rep. Chung Mong-joon and Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Moon-soo.

Park should take full responsibility for the outcome of the election, Chung said last month amid the party’s internal feuding over candidate nomination. Chung, a leading pro-Lee member of the party, is also eying a bid for the Blue House.

The main opposition Democratic United Party, on the other hand, tested its luck in the southeastern Yeongnam region, where aides to the former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun ran for office.

Moon Jae-in, the party’s supreme councilor and presidential potential, was the liberal candidate in the crucial Sasang constituency in Busan. His task was not only to win his parliamentary seat but also to boost the liberal surge in the traditionally conservative Busan and surrounding Gyeongsang provinces.

This was also the reason for Park’s frequent visits to the city during the election campaign period, observers noted.

Professor Ahn Cheol-soo, another potential candidate for the presidency, was largely silent during the campaign, though he urged young people to vote.

There is speculation that Ahn will start his political career in earnest with the election over, either by joining the left-wing bloc or by starting a new political group in preparation for the year-end race.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)