Democratic Party, 'In the Name of Moon Jae-in or Roh Moo-hyun'... Many Preliminary Candidates Are Lawyers and Educators

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The main titles of the ruling party's preliminary candidates running in this year's general election are President Moon Jae-in or former President Roh Moo-hyun. Since the approval rating for the government's performance still approaches 50%, the public's trust in President Moon remains strong, which can help in gaining votes. Aside from politicians, the candidates' professions are mostly lawyers, educators, doctors, and pharmacists, in that order.

According to the Central Election Commission on the 6th, 841 preliminary candidates have registered in 253 constituencies, of which 319 belong to the Democratic Party. The Liberty Korea Party has 287 candidates, the Bareunmirae Party 17, and the Justice Party 38. Among minor parties, the National Revolutionary Dividend Party led by leader Heo Kyung-young attracted attention with 69 registered candidates. The Minjung Party also registered 42 candidates.

Looking only at Seoul, the Liberty Korea Party has 59 candidates, more than the Democratic Party's 45, but there are no preliminary candidates registered in Jeollabuk-do and Jeollanam-do.

Two career experiences can be listed, and Democratic Party preliminary candidates often highlight careers related to President Moon. In fact, in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, all three Democratic Party preliminary candidates included the name "Moon Jae-in" in their career descriptions. Candidate Kwon Hyuk-gi stated he was "Director of the Blue House Press Office under President Moon Jae-in," Seon Jong-moon was "Political Special Advisor to Moon Jae-in during the 19th presidential election," and Do Cheon-su was "Special Advisor to Moon Jae-in during the 18th presidential election." Candidate Kwon also listed his experience as "Administrative Officer at the Blue House under President Roh Moo-hyun."

It is also expected that about 60 candidates from the Moon Jae-in administration's Blue House will run. Former Senior Secretary for Public Communication Yoon Young-chan (Seongnam Jungwon, Gyeonggi), former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Han Byung-do (Iksan-eul, Jeonbuk), former Senior Secretary for Jobs Jeong Tae-ho (Gwanak-eul, Seoul), and former Senior Secretary for Civil Society Lee Yong-seon (Yangcheon-eul, Seoul) are already actively campaigning. Yoon Geon-young, known as a close aide to President Moon and head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, is also rumored to possibly run in Seoul Guro-eul, the constituency of Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

As the year-end and New Year passed, President Moon's approval rating for government performance has remained in the high 40% range, with negative evaluations leading. Compared to previous presidents whose approval ratings dropped in their third year in office, this is still relatively high.

From this perspective, while ruling party candidates can rely on their "personalities," it is difficult for conservative opposition party candidates to expect a halo effect from personalities, which is one of the features of this general election.

The professions of preliminary candidates are mostly members of the National Assembly or politicians at 343, followed by lawyers at 82, educators at 59, doctors and pharmacists at 20, office workers at 20, commerce at 19, construction at 12, and 28 unemployed.

By gender, there are 719 males and 122 females; by age, 427 in their 50s, 236 in their 60s, 126 in their 40s, 28 in their 30s, 19 aged 70 or older, and 5 under 30. Regarding education, 362 have graduate degrees, more than the 273 with bachelor's degrees; 25 are currently enrolled in graduate school, and 77 have completed some graduate coursework. There are 21 high school graduates.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.