Daegu City Council, Dominated by First-Term Lawmakers, Sets Record with 9 Votes to Elect Chairmanship

Jang Sang-su Elected Chairperson, Kim Dae-hyun and Kang Min-gu as Vice-Chairpersons
Neither Secured Majority in 1st and 2nd Votes, Narrowly Chosen in Runoff

From the left, Jang Sang-su, elected as the chairperson, and vice chairpersons Kim Dae-hyun and Kang Min-gu.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] A rare event occurred in the election to select the 8th Daegu City Council's second half chairman and two vice chairmen, where voting took place nine times in total, three times each.

The Daegu City Council chairman election adopts the so-called 'papal election method,' where all council members become candidates without a candidate registration process and vote by secret ballot. Usually, it is customary for council members to hold prior discussions among themselves to elect the chairman and vice chairmen, but this time, it seems coordination was difficult because 23 out of 30 council members were first-term members (accounting for 76.7% of the total).

On the 29th, in the Daegu City Council chairman election, no candidate secured a majority in the first and second rounds of voting, leading to a runoff vote in a closely contested race.

In the chairman election, Future United Party members Jang Sang-su and Lee Man-gyu failed to secure a majority, and both received 15 votes each in the runoff vote. Ultimately, Jang Sang-su (70) was appointed chairman according to the seniority rule.

In the subsequent vice chairman election, Future United Party members Kim Dae-hyun and Ha Byung-moon advanced to the runoff, with Kim Dae-hyun (55) winning with 16 votes. The other vice chairman election also failed to produce a winner in the first and second rounds, and in the runoff vote, Democratic Party member Kang Min-gu (56) was elected.

After this arduous process, the chairman and vice chairman elections, which started at 10 a.m. that day, concluded at 12:50 p.m. The Daegu City Council holds 30 seats in total, with the Future United Party occupying 23 seats, the Democratic Party 5 seats, and 2 seats held by independents.

A council official stated, "Usually, prior discussions occur between those intending to run and other council members before the chairman and vice chairman elections, so it is extremely rare for all elections to proceed to runoff votes."

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