Five-term main opposition Democratic Party(DP) lawmaker Woo Won-shik has been elected as the Parliamentary Speaker for the first half of the 22nd National Assembly.

Woo was elected with 189 votes in favor out of 192 present on Wednesday, with the ruling People Power Party(PPP) boycotting the proceedings after rival parties failed to reach an agreement on how to form the parliamentary standing committees of the newly launched National Assembly.

The PPP also attributed its boycott to the DP’s unilateral push to hold the plenary session without proper consultation with the ruling party lawmakers.

Woo will withdraw from the party and become an independent party member in accordance with the National Assembly Act and will serve as the speaker until May 2026.

It is customary for the party holding the most parliamentary seats to take the speaker seat. The DP also voted in Lee Hak-young, a four-term DP lawmaker as the vice speaker of the National Assembly.