The South Korean parliament has narrowly voted down a motion to give consent to arrest the leader of the main opposition party, who is accused of corruption.

The National Assembly on Monday held a vote on Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. The Constitution stipulates that consent from the assembly is necessary to arrest a lawmaker. This means more than a half of the ballots are needed.

Prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for Lee on February 16, alleging that he caused financial damage to the city of Seongnam by allowing a real estate developer to illegally profit from an urban development project.

Lee was the mayor of the city between 2010 and 2018.
In the plenary session on Monday, he denied the allegation and criticized the administration, saying it is abusing its power for personal gain.

Of 297 lawmakers who cast their ballots, 139 supported the motion. That fell short of the required majority of 149. But approvals outnumbered disapprovals by one vote.

The Democratic Party has 169 seats in parliament, but there were about 30 fewer disapprovals than the number of its lawmakers.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reports that a significant number of the party's lawmakers either supported the motion, abstained or cast invalid ballots in the anonymous vote.

The result is expected to negatively affect Lee's leadership.