South Korea's scandal-plagued opposition leader is election's big winner

SEOUL, South Korea — The big winner in South Korea's parliamentary election is the country's most controversial politician: opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.

His Democratic Party (DP) has notched a landslide win, making the scandal-plagued liberal a real danger to beleaguered President Yoon Suk Yeol.

A former factory worker who played up his rags-to-riches tale to rise to the top of Korean politics, Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to arch-rival Yoon by the narrowest margin in the country's history -- but now he's back for revenge.

With his party and its satellite set to boost their National Assembly majority, according to near-total vote results reported by South Korean news agency Yonhap, Lee is set to dominate the country's politics, analysts say.

He's also well-positioned to run again and take Yoon's job when the president's single five-year term ends in 2027.

The Democratic Party's parliamentary victory "will present Lee great momentum in his pursuit of the presidency," said Bae Kang-hun, a political consultant, adding that many of the DP's new lawmakers were staunch Lee allies.

"They will help him a great deal in the parliament to pave the way for him to get the party nomination," to run as the DP's presidential candidate in 2027, he added.

There was initially speculation the DP could snag a super-majority in Wednesday’s election, which would have opened the door to impeaching Yoon.

However, those hopes had faded as tallies came in Thursday morning and the opposition came up short of the 200 seats required.

Lee, who was stabbed in the neck in January by a man pretending to be his supporter, rebounded from his 2022 presidential election loss to lead the DP with a pledge to "punish" Yoon through polls.

He had long called for the parliamentary elections to serve as a referendum on the president, saying the vote allowed "the people to decide whether the government should keep the power or be punished over its two-year governance."

The rise of a newly formed Rebuilding Korea party, led by former justice minister Cho Kuk, which is projected to win 12 to 14 seats, also shows the scale of voter discontent with the two main parties, experts say.

"The figures