Most South Koreans saw election as Roh confidence vote

20 Apr, 2004

Most South Koreans believe last week's parliamentary election signals that impeached President Roh Moo-hyun should be reinstated, but still want the Constitutional Court to rule on the case, an opinion poll said.
"More than six out of 10 South Koreans think the Uri Party's landslide victory in Thursday's general elections should be considered a vote of confidence for impeached President Roh Moo-hyun," the English-language Korea Times newspaper reported.
It canvassed 1,003 people across the country on Saturday.
Last month, the opposition-led National Assembly voted to impeach Roh for violating an election law, and the court has 180 days to decide whether to uphold that vote. Last Thursday, the pro-Roh Uri Party won a parliamentary majority in the election.
The newspaper said just over half of those questioned still felt political parties should await the Constitutional Court's ruling rather than seek to retract the impeachment.
The Uri Party has urged the main opposition Grand National Party to withdraw the impeachment but the Grand National Party has said the court should rule on the case.
Roh himself said before he was impeached he would treat the election as a referendum on his rule. The Uri Party that backs him won 152 seats in the 299-seat National Assembly, tripling its representation in the chamber. The Grand National Party lost its majority, taking 121 seats.

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