South Korea goes conservative

The conservative pro-big-business party of newly-elected president Lee Myung-Bak has taken control of South Korea's legislature, but not by as big a margin as Lee was hoping for. In the New York Times, Choe Sang-Hun writes that the result shouldn't be seen as a ringing endorsement for Lee:

In a sign of rising political apathy only a month and a half after Mr. Lee’s inauguration, voter turnout, at 46 percent, was the lowest in the country’s 20-year history of democratic elections. That low rate occurred even though the country’s election commission tried to woo people to the polls with 2,000 won, or $2, discount coupons for government-run parks, museums and parking lots.

If $2 museum discounts don't get people to vote, I don't know what will.