Rival parties in S. Korea tussle in local elections

Rival political parties in South Korea has been going neck and neck in local elections, which were seen by many as a referendum on the Park Geun-hye administration after the ferry sinking disaster.

The ruling Saenuri Party won eight of the 17 mayoral and gubernatorial seats, staging a tight race with the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), which gained nine seats in the sixth local election, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).

The election, held on Wednesday at more than 13,600 polling stations nationwide, elected a total of 3,952 officials, including 17 mayors and provincial governors, 17 superintendents and 226 heads of low-level administrative units as well as some 3,700 local council members.

Among 226 seats for local wards head, the conservative Saenuri party won 124 seats, while the NPAD gained 72.

In the vote for 17 education superintendents, liberal candidates won 13 seats, up from six at the election four years earlier.

The election results went neck and neck as South Koreans refrained from expressing deep trust on any political group.

Some had expected the ruling party to lose the race by a large margin as the Park Geun-hye administration has been under criticism since the ferry Sewol capsized and sank off the southwestern coast on April 16.

The government has been criticized for the bungling of initial rescue operations and lax safety standards, which many claimed contributed to surging victims. The maritime disaster left more than 300 people, mostly high school students, dead or missing.

The NPAD had wooed voters' support, offering a catchphrase of " judgment on the Park Geun-hye administration." The Saenuri party had asked voters to give President Park one more chance to complete her policy of normalizing abnormalities.

Park, who took office in February 2013, saw her approval rating fall below 50 percent for the first time after the ferry disaster occurred.

In Seoul, the biggest battleground, Mayor Park Won-soon of the NPAD won re-election against the ruling party's seven-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon who has the highest stake in Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's No.1 shipbuilder.

The Seoul mayoralty is often seen as a stepping stone to win the presidency. Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak was elected president in 2007.