SEOUL - The conservative party of South Korea's new president has won an overall majority in general elections, with 153 seats in the 299-seat parliament, according to final official figures Thursday.

Wednesday's vote saw Lee Myung-Bak's Grand National Party easily beat the liberal United Democratic Party, previously the largest group in parliament, which won 81 seats.

The final results, announced by the National Election Commission, had been delayed by technical problems.

Liberty Forward, a rightwing party of former prime minister Lee Hoi-Chang, got 18 seats. The Pro-Park Alliance, a breakaway group from the GNP, secured 14, meaning conservative groups hold a total of 185 seats.

The leftist Democratic Labour Party took five seats and the Creative Korea Party took three. Independent candidates won 25.

Lee, a former business executive who had campaigned on an "Economy, First!" platform, won a landslide victory over his liberal opponent in last December's presidential poll.

His GNP wanted a parliamnetary majority to enact business-friendly reforms such as deregulation and tax cuts after a decade of relatively modest growth under liberal presidents.

Lee and his party have also angered North Korea by promising to get tougher with the hardline and nuclear-armed communist regime.

Turnout was 46 percent of the 37.7 million-strong electorate, a record low for a general election, according to official figures.

The National Election Commission had offered incentives -- discounted entry fees to museums, parks and cultural facilities -- to go to the polls.

But Koreans appeared to be suffering election fatigue, and internal party feuds delayed candidate selection and gave them little time to appeal to the electorate.