Parties gear up for local elections

Officials are busy at the Gyeonggi provincial election commission in Suwon, Wednesday, as local elections for gubernatorial and mayoral posts, regional council members and educational superintendents are 70 days away. Yonhap

Race for Gyeonggi governor heats up

By Kang Seung-woo

With the presidential election now in the rearview mirror, political parties are gearing up for upcoming local elections, in which 17 mayoral and gubernatorial seats as well as posts for numerous local council members and education chiefs are up for grabs.

Following the victory in the presidential election, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) has set its sights on a repeat in the quadrennial elections, scheduled for June 1, while the liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is seeking to end its unsuccessful election run of late. The ruling party also lost last year's mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan.

"Shifting the focus on the local elections as soon as possible, we will try to win to support the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration," PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok said during a party meeting, Monday. Lee has tapped Rep. Chung Jin-suk, a five-term lawmaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, to head the party's committee in charge of candidate nomination.

On the other hand, the DPK is seeking to regain public support by pledging to ease property-related tax burdens on owners of a single home. Plenty of people, unhappy about the Moon Jae-in administration's failed real estate policy, turned away from the party in the presidential election.

"Issues regarding real estate-related taxes can exert influence on the local elections more than on the presidential election," a DPK official said. "We should make voters feel eased tax burdens."

Traditionally, who will become the next mayor of Seoul was a main talking point of the local elections. But this time, the race for the Gyeonggi governorship has taken center stage, with the post seen as a potential springboard to the presidency.

Along with Lee Jae-myung, who lost to Yoon by a slight margin, the Gyeonggi governor's predecessors, including Rhee In-je, Sohn Hak-kyu, Kim Moon-soo and Nam Kyung-pil, were under discussion for presidential candidacy while in office.

In that respect, a number of political heavyweights are speculated to run in the race, a post that each party seeks to take advantage of under the new administration.

The DPK candidate lost the presidential election by just 0.73 percentage point, so the party has high hopes of retaining the gubernatorial seat.

According to political circles, the DPK's five-term lawmakers ― Rep. An Min-suk and Rep. Cho Jeong-sik ― have heralded their declaration for candidacy, while former Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young has officially announced his bid for the gubernatorial post. In addition, Choi Jae-sung, a former senior presidential secretary for political affairs, is said to be considering a run for governor.

In addition, Kim Dong-yeon, a former finance minister who dropped out of the presidential race to endorse the DPK candidate, is also considering declaring his candidacy. Before serving as the Moon administration's inaugural finance minister, he was the president of Ajou University in Gyeonggi Province.

"It is true that many people recommend that I run for governor," Kim said in a radio interview. "I served as Ajou University president and lived in Gyeonggi Province for nearly 30 years, so such speculation is arising."

Given that Kim and Lee agreed on a policy pact during the presidential election campaign, there is speculation that the DPK may strategically nominate Kim as its candidate for the Gyeonggi governorship.

Yoo Seong-min, left, and Kim Dong-yeon / Korea Times photo

Yoo Seong-min, a former four-term lawmaker for a district in Daegu and presidential candidate, is rumored to be a flag-bearer for the PPP.

Although Yoo has yet to respond to the speculation, his supporters have called on him to run for governor, according to his office.

"Our party suffered a crushing defeat in the last local elections, so we have to win this time at all costs," he said in a recent radio interview. "I will make a decision by the end of this month after gauging the public sentiment of the province."

However, those who are based in the province and have prepared for the local elections there have strongly resisted strategic nomination, claiming that every candidate should go through a fair nomination process.

"It would be impossible for the party to nominate a candidate who has no connection to Gyeonggi Province. The party needs to field a candidate who is concerned about pending issues of the region," said Shim Jae-chul of the PPP, a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

The DPK's Yeom was also displeased with the former finance minister emerging as its candidate, calling it ridiculous.

"Lee Jae-myung was elected Gyeonggi governor for his past achievement as chief of a local government," he said. Before assuming the Gyeonggi governor job, Lee was a mayor of Seongnam from 2010 to 2018.

As for the Seoul mayoral race, while incumbent Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the PPP is seeking his fourth term, the DPK is struggling to find a competitive candidate.

While claiming the Seoul mayoral seat is an indicator deciding the winner of the local elections, DPK candidates are not expected to defeat Oh amid favorable sentiment toward the new administration.

The DPK plans to finalize candidates for the local elections by the end of next month, but no one has officially declared his candidacy at this time.

Rep. Woo Sang-ho and former Startup Minister Park Young-sun, both of whom competed for the DPK's flag-bearer role in last year's Seoul mayoral by-election, are not likely to run in the race and Rep. Park Ju-min, a two-term lawmaker, is scheduled to make a decision on whether to run for mayor.

The DPK said it is now considering a strategic nomination after bringing in an outside figure.

Another election to watch is Daegu, although it would boil down to an internal competition within the PPP.

While Mayor Kwon Young-jin has already declared his bid for a third term, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, a former leader of the Liberty Korea Party, a predecessor of the PPP, and Supreme Council member Kim Jae-won have joined the race for the coveted candidacy, a de facto winning ticket to the mayorship of Daegu, the party's traditional home turf.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon is anticipated to retain his post as the DPK's Kim Young-choon, with whom he competed in last year's by-election, has announced his retirement from politics.