South Korea’s National Assembly votes to impeach President Yeon Suk-yeol | Politics news

Some members of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party provided crucial votes in support of impeachment.

The National Assembly decided to impeach South Korean President Yeon Suk-yeol over his short-lived attempt to impeach him Imposing martial lawa move that plunged South Korea into political turmoil in the middle of his presidency.

The unicameral National Assembly voted 204 to 85 on Saturday to impeach Yoon The second such vote in eight days. Three members abstained from voting and eight votes were declared invalid.

Voting was by secret ballot, where a two-thirds vote was required for impeachment. All 300 council members cast votes.

Audible shouts were heard from the room as the voting result was announced. Outside, thousands of demonstrators greeted the announcement with applause and loud cheers.

Al Jazeera correspondent Rob McBride, from inside the assembly building, described the mood as “gloomy” after the vote.

But our correspondent said that the political impasse is not over yet, as the president has “pledged to fight” his case in court.

“But as far as the opposition and this council are concerned, they have not achieved what they set out to do.”

What will happen next?

With his impeachment, Yoon is automatically suspended from office while South Korea’s Constitutional Court deliberates his fate.

Prime Minister Han Dak-soo serves as interim president.

“I will devote all my strength and efforts to ensuring stable governance,” Han pledged in a statement.

The Constitutional Court will then have 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future. If you support his impeachment, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.

Park Geun Hyeanother conservative president, was impeached in December 2016 and removed from office in March 2017.

The position of the People Power Party changed

Yoon’s conservative People Power Party boycotted the first impeachment vote a week ago, preventing a quorum from being met.

Since then, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has urged the party to participate in the voting process, although the party’s official position rejects Yoon’s impeachment.

Before the vote, at least seven members of the PPP said they would vote to impeach Yoon, meaning only one additional vote was needed to reach the 200 needed for the trial.

“The weight of history”

He appreciates 200,000 people took to the streets of the capital, Seoul. In competing rallies for and against Yoon hours before the impeachment vote.

“The demonstrators came out for a historic moment, and they got a historic moment,” said Al Jazeera’s Eunice Kim, reporting from Seoul.

“The uncertainty that South Koreans have had to live with in the past two weeks is still the same uncertainty that awaits them,” our correspondent added, referring to the protracted political battle following the president’s impeachment.

“This is an important moment. But I don’t think anyone has any false pretense that the coming battle is over.

At the opening of the National Assembly meeting, Speaker Woo Won-shik declared that the “weight of history” was in the hands of the Assembly members.

“Yoon is the leader of the rebellion,” Park Chan-dae, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, declared.

He added that voting to impeach the president was “the only way” to “protect the constitution” of South Korea.

Yoon remained unapologetic and defiant As the repercussions of declaring martial law deepened and the investigation into his inner circle expanded.

His approval rating – which had never been high – has fallen to 11 percent, according to a Gallup Korea poll published on Friday. A previous poll conducted in November showed that his support rate reached 19 percent before the declaration of martial law.

The same poll showed that 75% of people now support his impeachment.