Seoul, Ap 9: South Koreans on Wednesday voted for a new parliament in elections that will determine whether new President Lee Myung-bak can easily push through his reform agenda to revitalise the economy.

Lee's conservative Grand National Party is widely expected to win more seats than the liberal opposition United Democratic Party, restoring its dominance over the 299-member National Assembly.

But with a large number of voters undecided and a low turnout predicted, it remained unclear whether the GNP would win an outright majority in the single-chamber legislature.

Lee, a former Seoul mayor and Hyundai executive, won the Dec 19 election by a landslide on the platform of taking pro-business measures, boosting ties with the United States and getting tougher on North Korea. However, his popularity has declined after he failed to immediately live up to his "get-the-job-done" image and several of his Cabinet appointees stepped down because of alleged ethical lapses.

Lee has also suffered a series of angry gestures from North Korea over his argument that the North first abandon its nuclear programs before getting economic aid. In recent weeks, the North has test-fired missiles and ejected South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex.

The North Korea issue, however, was not seen as a significant factor in this week's elections as many South Korean have been long used to bluster from their communist neighbour.

About 37.8 million people in South Korea, a country of 49 million, are eligible to cast ballots at some 13,250 polling stations across the country, according to the National Election Commission.