Exit polls showed the pro-government Uri Party winning a large majority yesterday in South Korea's parliamentary election, harvesting a windfall of support for impeached President Roh Moo-hyun.

　　Foreign investors and the opposition Grand National Party have said they fear the Uri Party could use a majority to indulge militant labor and push a radical agenda. But Uri moved swiftly yesterday to pledge no dramatic shifts in economic policy.

　　"If the exit polls are true, the people saved democracy, the people saved the president," said Uri Party leader Chung Dong-young.

　　The polls showed the Uri Party, which backs Roh, winning up to 172 seats in the 299-seat National Assembly. They saw the main opposition Grand National Party taking up to 115 seats.

　　"This is a tremendous victory for the Uri Party. The outcome represents voters' stern judgment on the impeachment," said political commentator Shim Jae-hoon.

　　One exit poll was conducted by KBS and SBS television channels with Media Research and TN Sopress. A second exit poll was conducted by MBC television with Korea Research.

　　Most votes were due to be counted by about 9pm. The provisional turnout was 56.2 percent compared with 57.2 at the last election in 2000. Exit polls were wide of the mark at the last parliamentary election, but accurate in the 2002 presidential vote that elected Roh.

　　Television reports of vote counts suggested the gap between the two main parties could be narrower than the exit polls showed, although few analysts seemed to doubt the likely outcome.

　　Rob Subbaraman, senior Asia economist at Lehman Brothers in Tokyo, said the economic impact of the vote would be minimal because the economy is run by ministries and technocrats.

　　"If the political uncertainty eases soon, that would be good for business confidence and for foreign investment," he said.

　　Grand National Party spokeswoman Chun Yu-ok said Uri's victory was not a shock, but could be worrisome.

　　"We expected Uri to lead, but with this many seats, combined with the unique character of Roh, we're afraid it will be like a high-speed racing car without brakes," she said.

　　The anti-business vote seemed to go to the Democratic Labor Party, projected to win up to 12 seats. It had none before.

　　"We have been consistently with workers, farmers and ordinary people," said campaign chief Chon Young-se. He said the party opposed Seoul's free trade pact with Chile, rice market opening under the WTO and sending S. Korean troops to Iraq.

　　The Millennium Democratic Party, on whose ticket Roh was elected, looked set to do badly. The Uri Party split from the Millennium Democrats last year.

　　The impeachment of Roh overshadowed debate about the Democratic Peoples's Republic of Korea nuclear threat, high unemployment or plans to send 3,000 troops to Iraq.

　　The Uri Party had been widely expected to win a majority in the unicameral parliament, in part on a sympathy vote for Roh.

　　But Chung's comment suggesting the elderly not vote was feared to have cost the party support.

　　(Reuters)