Oh Byung-yun of the Unified Progressive Party won in Gwangju’s Seo-gu-B constituency, beating the Saenuri Party’s Lee Jung-hyun.

Gwangju’s Seo-gu-B constituency was brought into the spotlight because a conservative candidate had been seen as having a chance of winning a seat in the city.

However, with the voters of the constituency holding onto their traditional preference for left-leaning parties, the ruling Saenuri Party’s hopes of winning a seat in Gwangju for the first time in 27 years were dashed.

Oh had served as the secretary general of the now defunct Democratic Labor Party before it was merged into the Unified Progressive Party.

However, with Gwangju being a traditional power base of the Democratic United Party, affiliated with the former President Kim Dae-jung, the race between Oh and Lee was expected by many to be tight despite the former having the support of the left-leaning parties. In addition, Oh’s affiliation with the Unified Progressive Party was also thought to have been a potential negative for voters.

However, exit polls showed that Saenuri Party’s candidate was in for a sound defeat.

Exit polls conducted by terrestrial broadcasters showed that Oh far outpaced Lee with 52.9 percent of the vote. Lee was estimated to have won 40.3 percent.

Oh was the opposition coalition’s unified candidate for the Gwangju’s Seo-gu-B constituency.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)