As the euphoria of Wednesday’s surprise election win subsides, the Saenuri Party is trying to rein in hasty optimism among its members about its chances of winning the presidency later this year.

The conservative ruling party retained its majority control of the single-chamber parliament, by winning 152 of the 300 seats up for grabs.

The main opposition Democratic United Party, which was once thought to be headed for a landslide win, took just 127 seats and its smaller alliance partner Unified Progressive Party 13.

The Saenuri’s unexpected win is largely credited to Park Geun-hye, its chief since December and is thus seen as boosting her chances for taking the presidency.

Yet, worries are growing within the conservative camp that their “queen of elections” may fail in a presidential showdown with the liberals, if she fails to win over young, white-collar voters in the next eight months.

“We really need to be on guard against thinking that Park is an invincible candidate,” said Saenuri Rep. Kang Chang-hee who was re-elected to a sixth term in Daegu.

“This is no time to be complacent,” he added.

In fact, a detailed look into election results provides reason for the Saenuri Party to be concerned.

The party, although it won 12 more parliamentary seats than the DUP and UPP combined, received nearly 120,000 ballots less than the opposition alliance.

The party swept races in provinces including swing-vote regions of Gangwon, Chungcheong and its traditional stronghold of Gyeongsang. Yet, in the metropolitan area, where nearly half of the country’s population resides, it was crushed by the opposition.

In Seoul, where 48 seats were contested, the Saenuri eked out just 16 wins, while it earned 43 of the 112 seats in Gyeonggi, which surrounds the capital. Seoul and Gyeonggi are considered relatively free from the country’s regionally-biased voting patterns, and for that reason, polls there are seen as a litmus test of public sentiment.

Mindful of the challenge ahead, Park vowed efforts to broaden the party’s support base.

“I will do my utmost to win support of those who didn’t give us their votes this time. I will work for all generations and all classes of the electorate,” she said.

A daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, the 60-year-old is the clear frontrunner in the race for the Saenuri presidential nomination.

Outside the party, she also saw her stance as a presidential contender solidifying after Wednesday’s election.

A public opinion poll conducted by Gallup Korea after the general election showed Park beating Ahn Cheol-soo, a software-guru turned professor, 45.1 percent to 35.9 percent in a hypothetical matchup.

In the two-way race between Park and Moon Jae-in, a potential liberal presidential candidate, she was projected to win by 47.8 percent to Moon’s 31.4 percent.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)