By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter

The liberal Democratic Labor Party (DLP) grabbed an impressive nine-seat haul in Thursday’s general elections and emerged as the third largest National Assembly bloc.

The labor party, formed in 2000, succeeded in winning more than 12 percent of the party vote with support from workers and progressive forces nationwide.

Along with two victories in electoral districts, including DLP leader Kwon Young-ghil’s win in Changwon, South Kyongsang Province, the party was able to grab an additional seven seats under the proportional representation system.

The party became the nation’s No. 3 party as the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and the United Liberal Democrats failed to draw support from their regional power bases, the Cholla and Chungchong provinces, respectively.

``I thank all the voters who made the great decision to support the DLP. We will devote ourselves in representing the rights of laborers, farmers and common citizens,’’ Kwon said after his victory was confirmed.

Besides the noted achievement of the DLP, female candidates also came forward as big winners in the polls by more than doubling their representation in the National Assembly.

Among the 66 women who ran in their constituencies, 10 emerged victorious, including Grand National Party (GNP) leader Park Geun-hye, Kim Hee-sun and Han Myung-sook of the Uri Party, and 33-year-old Kim Hee-jung of the GNP, the youngest candidate to win a seat.

When adding the 29 women who were nominated through proportional tickets, the total number of women who secured a seat in the National Assembly rose to 39, equivalent to 13 percent of the 299 available seats.

In the 2000 general elections, only 16 women managed to enter the Assembly, accounting for a meager 5.9 percent of the total 273 lawmakers. Five were elected from electoral districts and 11 through the proportional representation system.

jysoh@koreatimes.co.kr