• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.223-258
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• 2022

The 2018 local elections completely upended the composition of Busan's city council, with the council membership changing from being solidly and consistently conservative to being over 80% liberal. What explains this anomalous outcome? While existing literature suggests the outcome of the 2018 city council elections was the consequence of a combination of structural and strategic factors, such as the decline of regional voting, we argue that the individual-level evaluation of President Moon Jae-in is one of the primary factors driving this result. Although coattails effects are commonly considered in concurrent national legislative elections, the Presidentialized and nationalized politics of Korea makes it possible for Presidential elections to affect local elections as well. We assess our explanation through an analysis of repeated cross-sectional survey data collected just before the 2018 local elections. The results of the analysis show that support for the Democratic Party is very strongly predicted by individual-level evaluation of President Moon. When considered in the context of the timing of presidential and local elections, the results suggest that Presidential coattail effects are capable of destabilizing established political patterns, such as regional voting, if perhaps only in a sporadic and idiosyncratic fashion, depending on whether or not local elections are held early on in a President's term.

• American Studies
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.23-55
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• 2019

Do international economic factors affect the result of gubernatorial elections? This research aims to explain the reasons that local elections are not influenced by international economic factors such as US-China trade dispute. Although previous studies show the mixed results about the relationship between economic factors and gubernatorial electoral outcome, this research argues at least three explanations can be identified. First, there is a perceived gap between the candidates and local voters on the effect of trade disputes. Local voters do not consider the trade dispute as immediate threats, and candidates only use the trade dispute for attacking rivals. Where the functional responsibilities are unclear among elected officials between federal and local government, voters tend to cast votes based on their party identification. In the case of trade policy, functional responsibility is murky between the president and governor; voters may not judge the governor incumbent or candidates on state economic condition.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.147-165
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• 1992

This paper analyzes the macroeconomic effects of elections on the Korean economy and their future ramifications. It measures the shocks to the Korean economy caused by elections by taking the average of sample forecast errors from four major elections held in the 1980s. The seven variables' Bayesian Vector Autoregression Model which includes the Monetary Base, Industrial Production, Consumption, Consumer Price, Exports, and Investment is based on the quarterly time series data starting from 1970 and is updated every quarter before forecasts are made for the next quarter. Because of this updating of coefficients, which reflects in part the rapid structural changes of the Korean economy, this study can capture the shock effect of elections, which is not possible when using election dummies with a fixed coefficient model. In past elections, especially the elections held in the 1980s, $M_2$ did not show any particular movement, but the currency and base money increased during the quarter of the election was held and the increment was partly recalled in the next quarter. The liquidity of interest rates as measured by corporate bond yields fell during the quarter the election and then rose in the following quarter, which is somewhat contrary to the general concern that interest rates will increase during election periods. Manufacturing employment fell in the quarter of the election because workers turned into campaigners. This decline in employment combined with voting holiday produce a sizeable decline in industrial production during the quarter in which elections are held, but production catches up in the next quarter and sometimes more than offsets the disruption caused during the election quarter. The major shocks to price occur in the previous quarter, reflecting the expectational effect and the relaxation of government price control before the election when we simulate the impulse responses of the VAR model, imposing the same shocks that was measured in the past elections for each election to be held in 1992 and assuming that the elections in 1992 will affect the economy in the same manner as in the 1980s elections, 1992 is expected to see a sizeable increase in monetary base due to election and prices increase pressure will be amplified substantially. On the other hand, the consumption increase due to election is expected to be relatively small and the production will not decrease. Despite increased liquidity, a large portion of liquidity in circulation being used as election funds will distort the flow of funds and aggravate the fund shortage causing investments in plant and equipment and construction activities to stagnate. These effects will be greatly amplified if elections for the head of local government are going to be held this year. If mayoral and gubernatorial elections are held after National Assembly elections, their effect on prices and investment will be approximately double what they normally will have been have only congressional and presidential elections been held. Even when mayoral and gubernatorial elections are held at the same time as congressional elections, the elections of local government heads are shown to add substantial effects to the economy for the year. The above results are based on the assumption that this year's elections will shock the economy in the same manner as in past elections. However, elections in consecutive quarters do not give the economy a chance to pause and recuperate from past elections. This year's elections may have greater effects on prices and production than shown in the model's simulations because campaigners' return to industry may be delayed. Therefore, we may not see a rapid recall of money after elections. In view of the surge in the monetary base and price escalation in the periods before and after elections, economic management in 1992 should place its first priority on controlling the monetary aggregate, in particular, stabilizing the growth of the monetary base.

• Survey Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.25-48
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• 2011

In this paper, we overview the sample design, sampling error, non-response rate and prediction errors of the exit poll conducted for 2010 local elections and discusses how to detect a prediction bias in exit poll. To investigate the bias problem in exit poll in regional(Si-Do) level, we analyze exit poll data for 2007 presidential election and 2006 local elections as well as 2010 local elections in Korea. The measure of predictive accuracy A proposed by Martin et al.(2005) is used to assess the exit poll bias. The empirical studies based on three exit polls clearly show that there exits systematic bias in exit poll and the predictive bias of candidates affiliated to conservative party (such as Hannara-Dang) is serious in the specific regions. The result of this study on systematic bias will be very useful to improving the exit poll methodology in Korea.

• Survey Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.81-104
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• 2007

This paper discusses the central issues of election studies and in this contort, suggests the panel survey method as an alternative to general opinion surveys. In doing so, it also explains the advantages and benefits that a panel survey provides, and discusses the weakness of the 2006 panel survey. East Asia Institutes, constructing the consortium which includes JoongAng Ilbo, SBS, and Hankook Research, traces the change in voting decisions during the 2006 Korean Local Elections. Four regional panels, focusing on the gubernatorial elections in Seoul, Pusan, Kwangju, and Chungnam, enable researchers to study the critical issues of election studies such as the causal relations among a set of voting determinants, the impact of campaigns, and the characteristics of floating voters.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.241-276
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• 2018

This article measures equal weighted voting to evaluate the fairness of a redistricting system operated in the $4^{th}$ to the $6^{th}$ metropolitan council elections using a new index. The cosine square index using in the article would be useful on what we see the ratio of the equality of population among metropolitan regions and the fairness of the whole electoral system, along with its simple calculation. The results of the fairness of the $4^{th}$ to the $6^{th}$ metropolitan council elections calculated by the cosine square index are as follow: Because the $4^{th}$ metropolitan council election uniformly elects two members for each electoral district regardless of the size of the population, it has a low equality of population between districts. But as a result of the decision of the Constitutional Court in 2007, standard of population variation in electoral district has been strengthened to 4 : 1 from the $5^{th}$ metropolitan council election. It increases significantly equality of population between districts from the $5^{th}$ metropolitan council election. But in the elections from the $4^{th}$ to the $6^{th}$ metropolitan council elections, Rural electoral districts continuously show the lowest equality of population between districts. It also shows the growing disparity between urban and rural areas as well as between capital and non-capital. This paper emphasizes that electoral apportionment in local council elections should reflect regional diversity and community identity.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.79-106
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• 2019

Local governments within the boundaries of a state need increasing flexibility to satisfy diverse economic, social, and environmental goals in their particular geographical setting. However, many candidates in the local election in South Korea tend to see local politics as an extension of national-level politics. In particular, this paper mainly deals with how the voters' evaluation of a president's performance has influenced subnational elections in South Korea. Our analysis suggests that the fate of candidates in subnational elections is shaped by the performance of the incumbent president in both economic development and foreign affairs.

• Survey Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-79
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• 2007

This article attempts to provide an overview of the exit polls for the 2006 local elections in Korea. The sampling method, sampling error, non-response rate, and prediction error of the exit polls are reviewed. Also, we explore the fact that the propensity to vote varies according to age and gender of voters. In terms of age and gender, the representativeness of the sample is investigated by comparing to the data released by the National Election Commission. Through this empirical research, we show that the exit poll samples are unbalanced in terms of age and this unbalance may be one of the causes of bias occurred in the prediction of the 2006 local election results. The design effects of the sample design implemented for the exit polls are also examined.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.39-66
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• 2018

This paper analyzes the structures and issues of 2018 Korean local elections based on the author's observations on the electoral processes. Even if this paper does not follow a traditional statistical method, it provides the interpretative meanings of 2018 local elections by utilizing an expert's observations of campaign processes. This result of 2018 election can be summarized into two analytical frames. In terms of electoral competition structure, three key factors, such as presidential approval rating, party competition structure, ideological spectrum, tend to affect the winning of governing party. In the light of election issue, the inter-Korean summit, the Washington-Pyeongyang summit, Incheon deprecating remark were positive to the vote gains of governing party, but the negative campaign, the drucking scandal and the swing voters were found not to be significant. The local election in Korea tends to show dual meanings, a proxy war of national-level politics and a composition process of local government. This paper found that the 2018 election has dual meanings at the same time, in a sense that it is the punishment of the ex-governing party's wrongdoing and the power change of local government.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.145-156
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• 2011

The study is to analyze voting behaviors revealed through the June 2 local elections, and to learn their implications by exploring and comparing the main factors that influence how to recognize and select a candidate. To achieve this, in-depth interviews have been conducted focusing on those who voted in the last election. The analysis shows that most respondents regard their political tendencies as moderate and make decisions on whom to vote for 2 to 3 days prior to election. It also indicates that what party candidates belong to is the highest motivation in deciding for whom to vote and they generally vote as they believe. According to the study, not only do the poll's results hardly affect their choice of candidates, but also the polls turn out significantly different from the actual results. The great gap between the polls and the actual outcome signifies that how to conduct a poll is wrong and people intend to conceal their opinions. While the media has had a decisive effect on the image of candidates, it is through promotional materials for political campaigns that the candidates' policy is recognized. The study also says that the Four-River is the most influential political issue in election. The study identifies voters' behavior specifically and in depth, and suggests some lessons to make use of for the future elections.