Voting Rate Key Variable for Top Seoul Educator Election
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Who will grab Seoul's top educator job depends on how many citizens cast votes in the election today, analysts said.
A high turnout would help leading conservative runner Kong Jeong-taek, 74, while progressive candidate Joo Kyung-bok, 57, will have a greater chance with a lower voting rate.
That's because Joo, a Konkuk University professor, is the only runner supported by progressive groups such as the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union; the Parents' Association for True Education; and Lawyers for Democratic Society.
Many supporters of Joo are expected to cast their votes for the progressive educator, while votes for Kong and other conservative candidates are expected to be spread out. It means the lower the voting rate is, the higher the chance Joo will have, analysts said. Voter rate is expected to hover around 20 percent at most.
Four other superintendent hopefuls, Lee In-kyu, 48; Kim Sung-dong, 66; Park Jang-ok, 56; and Lee Young-man, 62, have rather conservative or neutral education policies.
While Kong, current superintendent of the city, has encouraged elite education, placing him in line with the education policies of the Lee Myung-bak administration, Joo has called for the government to scrap its education polices favoring top-level students and undermining the public education system.
This election, the first by Seoul residents, will run from 6 a.m. through 8 p.m. at 2,189 polling booths around the city. Seoul has about 8 million voters.
The superintendent overseas about 60,000 teachers and other school staff with 1.48 million elementary and secondary school students. The superintendent oversees an annual education budget of 6 trillion won ($6 billion) and is responsible for creating or closing schools, budgeting and planning, and setting school curriculum. The selected candidate will govern the city's education until June 2010 in order to unify the date of all top educator elections across the country.