The ruling People Power Party (PPP) achieved a sweeping victory in local elections held on June 1, grabbing 12 out of 17 metropolitan mayoral and provincial gubernatorial seats. PPP’s latest win came 80 days following the party’s win in the presidential election.
PPP’s latest victory is a sharp contrast from the 2018 local elections in which the party won two seats and gave away 14 seats to the opposition Democratic Party (DP).
The latest PPP’s victory may be construed as people’s support to stabilize the new President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government.
The major opposition DP suffered a humiliating loss. But former deputy minister-MOEF minister Kim Dong-yeon and four others on the ticket of the DP won.
Kim clinched a come-from-behind victory with a 0.15 percentage point margin over PPP candidate Kim Eun-hae in the neck-and neck Gyeonggi-do gubernatorial race.
DP’s loss marked the third time election defeat in a row, starting with the mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan in April 2021. PPP also clinched a victory in lower government races. The party took back 17 out of 25 Seoul’s ward mayors from DP.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was reelected for the fourth time. He is the first four-time Seoul mayor.
Mayor Oh is expected to advance his public pledges in his upcoming term, as the ruling PPP occupied an almost 70 percent share in the Seoul City Council following the outcomes of the latest local elections.
Mayor Oh had been at loggerheads with the Seoul City Council, which was dominated by DP after he won a mayoral by-election in April 2021.
Mayor Oh proposed support for youth’s public transportation costs and his other core policies, but related budgets were cut due to opposition of the Seoul City Council.
The reduced budgets were narrowly restored in the supplementary budget in April 2022.
Mayor Oh’s first public pledge involves four policies for the underprivileged: stabilizing livelihoods, housing, education and medical care.
He is expected to speed up certain policies, such as overhauling the Transportation Broadcasting System (TBS) and policies to spur redevelopment and reconstruction projects.
Mayor Oh has emerged as one of the powerful presidential hopefuls along with Ahn Cheol-soo, who was elected in a parliamentary by-election in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do and Gyeonggi-do Governor-elect Kim.
Lee Jae-myung, a former presidential candidate loser, was also elected in a parliamentary by-election in Incheon, but was humiliated with his party’s defeat.
Gyeonggi-do Governor-elect Kim is expected to prioritize in real estate and transportation issues in the Gyeonggi-do area.
He promised to push the reconstruction of the first satellite city and the building of housing for youth and newly-wed couples, to be supplied by half of current market prices.
Gyeongbuk Gov. Lee Cheol-woo receives a certificate of his reelection in the June 1 local election on June 2. (Photo: Gyeongbuk)
Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Reelected in Gubernatorial Race
Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo was reelected in the gubernatorial race by sweeping 904,675 votes or 77.95 percent of the votes cast.
Lee said he would make a fresh start for a four-year term, reflecting on stepping stones he established for the past four years.
He said and he would paint a wonderful picture based on his vision for Gyeongbuk residents, the province, people and Korea.
Governor-elect Lee set his policies as: jobs, young happy children, promoting Gyeongbuk tourism to the world, agriculture, and reviving mountain and fishing villages coming.
Among mega projects he will push during his upcoming term are the early construction of an integrated airport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area, the retracting of a policy of waning the nation off nuclear power, expanding of youth-oriented policies, and the establishment of a study-oriented medical college at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).
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