Upon the latest parliamentary election, the number of moderates increased while that of conservatives decreased, research showed on Wednesday.

According to a thesis analyzing the origins of conflicts amongst groups authored by professor Ryu Jae-sung at Keimyung University, the number of voters who identified themselves as moderates increased between the 19th and 20th general election in 2012 and 2016, respectively. The thesis was published by the Korean Association of Party Studies.

While the percentage of the moderates came at 28.7 percent right after the 19th election, it increased by 6.9 percentage points to 35.6 percent after this year’s election.

The ratio of conservatives, meanwhile, dropped by 7.5 percentage points from 40.1 percent four years ago to 32.6 percent this year.

The change in the ratio of progressives remained little changed from 31.1 percent in 2012 to 31.6 percent now.

The survey was conducted on 1,600 eligible voters between April 20 and May 12 this year. The election was held on April 16. The statistics for 2012 was taken from a survey conducted by Seoul National University’s political research institute.

The research also pointed out that while the ideological identification among the voters changed, both rivaling parties saw a rise in the portion of supporters who are conservative.

The ruling Saenuri Party saw the proportion of conservative supporters rise significantly from 48.7 percent upon the 19th election to 69.0 percent after the 20th election. Progressive supporters for the party, on the other hand, declined from 28.5 percent to 8.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the main opposition, The Minjoo Party of Korea, saw the ratio of their progressive supporters remain slightly changed from 51.2 percent to 56.1 percent, while the conservatives surged from 8.9 percent to 18.8 percent. The proportion of moderates, on the other hand, dropped from 38.8 percent to 25.1 percent.

Observers noted that while the Minjoo Party appears to have succeeded in bringing in more conservative voters by moderating its progressive agendas and naming conservative Rep. Kim Chong-in as its interim chairman, it has relatively failed in wooing the moderates.

In the report professor Ryu noted that, despite their proclaimed political disposition, conservative and progressive voters showed little difference toward specific policies. He also noted that there were many cases in which a conservative voter would support a progressive policy and vice versa.

“They can be deemed as voters who can change their position if an issue becomes politicized, despite how there are bigger possibilities of drawing out a consensus when it comes to specific policies,” Rhy was quoted as telling Munhwa Ilbo.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)