Roh's Uri Party celebrates likely election win<\/p>\n
Jack Kim, Reuters, Seoul<\/p>\n
South Korea's pro-government Uri Party erupted in triumph on
\nThursday as exit polls predicted a major victory for the pro-
\ngovernment party in the parliamentary election.<\/p>\n
Party officials and supporters chanted "We won! We won!" as
\npreliminary results began flashing through at party headquarters
\nputting Uri ahead of the main opposition Grand National Party
\n(GNP).<\/p>\n
The Uri party appeared to harvest a windfall of support for
\nimpeached President Roh Moo-hyun.<\/p>\n
The exit polls showed the Uri Party, which backs Roh, winning
\nup to 172 seats in the 299-seat National Assembly. They saw the
\nmain opposition Grand National Party taking up to 115 seats.<\/p>\n
Uri party leader Chung Dong-young, who had been fasting since
\nMonday night in penance for campaign comments that had angered
\naged voters and cast a shadow over his party's election chances,
\nblinked back tears as he urged caution until the results been
\nmore certain later in the evening.<\/p>\n
Afforded a hero's welcome at Uri's election situation room
\neven before exit polls started coming in, Chung left an hour
\nlater for a medical checkup and to receive intravenous fluids for
\ndehydration.<\/p>\n
Uri supporters also broke into chants of "Roh Moo-hyun" and
\n"Scrap the impeachment" as a giant TV screen flashed pictures of
\nthe president and his wife casting their votes early in the day.<\/p>\n
Roh was impeached by the opposition-controlled parliament on
\nMarch 12 for breaching election laws by making comments in
\nsupport of the Uri Party, and his powers are suspended pending a
\nruling by the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
"We won, there's no question about it," said Kim Sung-ho, an
\nUri lawmaker until the current session closes out on May 31.<\/p>\n
Cases of makkoli, a fermented Korean rice wine, were being
\ndelivered to the rear of the compound for a celebration party
\nsupporters hoped would come later in the night.<\/p>\n
"We're going to have wait to see," said a party official coyly
\nas he carried some makkoli toward the party venue.<\/p>\n
The provisional turnout was 56.2 percent of South Korea's 35.6
\nmillion eligible voters, the commission said.<\/p>\n
The presumptive winner, the pro-government Uri Party, was
\ncelebrating with roast pork and fermented rice wine -- although
\nit had not made a victory speech -- after exit polls showed it
\nhad won at least half of the 299 National Assembly seats.<\/p>\n
South Korea has a population of 48 million people living in an
\narea the size of Belgium or the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.<\/p>",
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