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It was a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the Lee Myung-bak administration. It is normal in Korea for local elections during a presidential term to come out this way. The difference this time is that the votes went to the Democratic Party even though the party itself is not very popular, has no clear leadership, and does not clearly stand for anything.

In contrast, President Lee is doing well. The country has recovered from the financial crisis. He had the advantage of tension with North Korea, which usually delivers votes to the conservatives.

In Seoul, Oh Se-hoon was clearly the better candidate than Han Myeong-sook because the latter has virtually no experience. However he won by a razor-thin margin,.