Public Interest `Blackballing' in South Korea's Elections

Abstract

South Korea's April 2000 congressional elections saw large numbers of incumbent candidates defeated. The South Korean mass media attributed considerable importance to the activities of a public interest umbrella organization, the Citizens' Alliance (CA) for the 2000 General Elections. CA `blackballed' 86 candidates of all parties as corrupt, unqualified or otherwise unsuited for office, and 59 of these candidates lost. After controlling for a variety of other factors - characteristics of districts, candidates and parties, and campaign spending - we find that CA did indeed exert a remarkably strong influence on electoral outcomes. Being blackballed was most damaging to independent candidates. Blackballing had the greatest impact on the probability of winning in districts with weaker party loyalties, and, somewhat ironically, for candidates of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party - the party most closely identified with the issue of clean government.