Seoul Mayor Oh defies exit poll to win reelection

Incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party waves to cameras during his victory speech at his reelection campaign office in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

In a stunning political turnaround, incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon secured his reelection in Wednesday's vote, overcoming an early exit poll projection that had forecast a loss to his liberal rival Chong Won-o.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC) Thursday, as of 3 p.m., with 99.54 percent of the votes counted, Oh of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) obtained 49.15 percent of the vote, defeating Chong of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), who garnered 48.13 percent. The formal announcement of the winner has not been made.

This came after an exit poll for Wednesday’s local elections released jointly by major broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS put Chong at 51.4 percent and Oh at 46 percent. During the initial stages of the count, Chong had maintained a comfortable lead. But by around 7:20 a.m. Thursday, some 13 hours after counting started, Oh had steadily erased the deficit to clinch a dramatic come-from-behind win.

“This election is a victory for common sense,” Oh said at his campaign office. “It is a victory for young people who, even as they despair that the ladder of social mobility has been cut off, once again dare to dream of a fair and hopeful future. It is a victory for ordinary citizens who yearn for an end to the hellish ordeal of soaring housing prices, for working couples searching for a safe place to entrust their children … It is a victory for these ordinary, diligent citizens.”

On the voting day, 14 polling stations in three southern districts of the capital experienced ballot paper shortages, forcing voters to wait in line as additional supplies were delivered. The NEC later convened an emergency meeting and announced that the incident did not constitute grounds for postponing the election or holding a revote. As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, ballot counting was still suspended at a polling station in Songpa District, where some 2,000 ballots remained uncounted, delaying the NEC’s formal confirmation of Oh's victory.

Oh condemned the confusion, saying that in a democracy “the process is just as important as the result” and calling for a thorough investigation.

“Even though citizens have given us a great victory, we cannot pretend that the serious flaws that occurred in the process never happened,” Oh said. “We must determine what went wrong, and ensure strict accountability proportionate to those failures, accompanied by fundamental reforms so that such problems never occur again.”

Chong Won-o, the Seoul mayoral candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, lowers his head as he speaks to reporters at his campaign office in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis

Speaking to reporters at 9:30 a.m., Chong offered his congratulations to Oh on his election victory, saying he would accept the judgment of Seoul residents.

“I will humbly uphold the choice of the citizens of Seoul,” Chong said. “I was not good enough. Everything is my responsibility.”

Oh first took office as Seoul mayor in 2006 and won reelection in 2010. But he resigned in August 2011, taking responsibility after his political gamble on a free school meals referendum collapsed due to low voter turnout. His subsequent attempts to reenter politics via the 2016 and 2020 general elections both ended in defeat.

Following a decade of political exile, Oh staged a dramatic return to the city government by winning the 2021 by-election triggered by the death of former Mayor Park Won-soon amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Oh consolidated this comeback with another victory in the 2022 local elections to become the city’s first four-term mayor. With Wednesday’s victory, he has now cemented an unprecedented milestone as its first five-term leader.

Throughout the campaign, Oh focused on his policy track record while keeping his distance from PPP Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok, who is heavily backed by its pro-Yoon Suk Yeol faction. This strategy appears to have paid off, as a number of moderates turned out to support him despite their disapproval of the party following the former president’s martial law fiasco.

By pulling off this win, Oh is expected to solidify his position as a major conservative figure capable of filling the leadership void left by Yoon’s impeachment. Oh has demonstrated a rare ability to broaden the conservative base by winning over moderate voters disillusioned with the Yoon faction.