Chapter 36 "4.15" general election, the people gave me precious 121 seats

It is not easy to change the minds of the people who have turned their backs on us.Therefore, I continue to sincerely appeal to the people to give us another chance.I started to visit all parts of the country and made a sincere promise that we would change our past and be a political party that only cares about the people.However, the hearts of the people are like being betrayed and injured by a friend, and it is difficult to change their minds. Once I took a taxi, and the driver who recognized me accused me angrily: "I used to do a good job in business, but the company went bankrupt. I had to switch to driving a taxi a year ago. Recently, I get angry when I see politicians, angry I was about to have a stroke. Now even MPs appearing at country events are not welcomed, and everyone has lost trust in Congress.”

Hearing what he said, I couldn't answer a word.It can be seen that the people have been completely disappointed with us. Things didn't turn around until March 30, 2004, when I gave a televised speech that night.On the way to the TV station to record, there was only one thing in my mind: "I am now a representative of a political party spurned by the people. All I can do is to express my sincerity to the people, and there is no other way." The lights of the camera came on, and the eyes of all the TV station staff were fixed on me.At this time, I had countless things to say in my heart, and tears poured out like a river bursting its embankment.I don't usually cry in front of others, but when I think about how our country has developed from a poor country to the present and how much the people have suffered, I feel very sad and tears come to my eyes.

"I know very well how disappointed the GNP has let you citizens down. We used to be lazy, compromised with corruption, only knew how to fight for power, did not listen to the voices of the people, and became more and more arrogant. Now we have really changed our ways and left only one One heart to apologize to the people, and the rest will be thrown away." With a choked voice trembling unceasingly, I continued: "In order to resolve the resentment in the hearts of the people, we are really serious about making amends. We cannot just watch the Republic of Korea, which was built so hard in the past, fall like this. Here, we don't want to find out whether the president is right or wrong, and we don't want to find out whether the government and the ruling party are right or wrong. Responsibility. How could our Grand National Party have no responsibility? We failed to take into account the pain of the citizens, so we must start to reflect on ourselves.”

In an instant, tears welled up, and I hurriedly wiped the tears with my hands, and everyone at the recording site also cried. The next day after the recording, it may be that sincerity can finally touch people's hearts, many people are willing to extend their warm hands to shake my hand.A housewife with her child on her back said, "I watched it too, and we cried together." She made a V sign of victory.Thankfully, voices are gradually starting to be heard who are willing to give the Grand National Party another chance.

I went around looking for tickets, and I only slept about two or three hours a day. In the end, my lips were broken, and I even almost fainted from exhaustion due to my overworked schedule.And because of the excessive handshake, the whole hand was red and swollen, and the wrist was sore.Although I tried all kinds of methods to reduce the swelling, my hands were still swollen, and I couldn't even hold chopsticks or spoons.Five days before the election, I had to wear bandages, and although my hands were getting swollen, the approval rating of the GNP was rising.From the beginning of the prediction of ten seats, to twenty seats, thirty seats, fifty seats... the areas that may be elected have also been increasing.No matter where I go, there are people who shout "Park Geun-hye is here" and run to welcome me, shake hands, and give me hugs.Seeing their enthusiasm made me feel a greater sense of responsibility, and I only had one thought in my heart: "I can't let them down, I must do well." In this way, the "4.15" congressional general election is gradually approaching.

On the last day of the election, I plan to go to the fierce war zones such as Gyeonggi, Seoul, and Incheon first, and then to Daegu.Although I ran almost all over the country, my area——Daegu Dalseong, I didn’t go to the ticket once, so I plan to go to Dalseong on the last night.However, many areas in the capital circle are fighting fiercely and are on thin ice. Candidates in those areas keep contacting me and begging me to help.I couldn't just sit idly by such an urgent need. In the metropolitan area, a difference of a few hundred votes can determine whether you lose or win the election, so I continued to run a lot of trips.The candidate of the ruling party in Busan chanted the slogan "cut hair", and the candidate of the Grand National Party rushed to ask me to help in Busan.When I finally arrived in Dacheng, it was close to ten o'clock in the evening when the campaign must end.As soon as I said hello, the campaign was over, so I was the candidate who didn't do a good job of saying hello to people in my district.I am very grateful to the people of Dacheng who voted for me even so.

As a result, the Grand National Party won 121 seats in the "April 15" general election.Some people feel that it is a pity, and even said: "Just one more week, maybe it will become the largest party in Congress." However, I think this is already a matter of thanking the people. Maybe they couldn't get it, but in the end they got more than twelve times as many seats.The 121 seats are the extremely precious number given to us by the people, which makes everything hopeful. From now on, the Grand National Party will start again with the precious 121 seats given by the people.

---

Notes: