Will Seoul Mayoral Election See Oh Se-hoon Face Off Against Park Young-sun, Park Yong-jin, or Lee Nak-yeon?

Interest Grows in June 1 Seoul Mayoral Election, First Since March 9 Presidential Election... High Public Demand for Regime Change, Moon Jae-in Government's Real Estate Policy Failures, and Daejang-dong Corruption Scandal Make It a Tough Race for the Democratic Party... However, People's Power Faces Uncertainty Due to Potential Opposition Unity with the People's Party Candidate Ahead of the Final Outcome

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The June 1 local elections, held after the March 9 presidential election, are also attracting great attention.

The greatest focus remains on the March 9 presidential election.

This is because the results of the June 1 local elections for the 8th term of direct elections, held about a month after the president's inauguration, are expected to be influenced by the presidential election outcome.

Accordingly, intense interest is focused on the results of the presidential election among the mayor of Seoul as well as 23 out of 25 district mayors in Seoul (Jongno and Seocho district mayors resigned to run in the parliamentary by-elections held alongside the presidential election).

In particular, with the rising public opinion favoring a regime change in this presidential election, the unease among Seoul district mayors and city council members, mostly from the Democratic Party of Korea, is expected to grow.

Therefore, it is anticipated that the question of who will run as the Seoul mayoral candidate in the June 1 local elections will also be a topic at this Lunar New Year’s public sentiment table.

So far, it seems clear that Oh Se-hoon from the People Power Party will run for re-election as mayor.

Mayor Oh, through the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, swept all neighborhoods in Seoul and, alongside former Mayor Park Won-soon, set the record as the first ‘three-term directly elected Seoul mayor,’ and is expected to challenge another first record as the ‘four-term directly elected Seoul mayor.’

Perhaps for this reason, Mayor Oh has been continuing his battles with the Seoul Metropolitan Council, where the Democratic Party holds over 90% of the seats, thereby raising his presence.

However, Mayor Oh has been evaluated as showing little policy presence aside from his campaign promise to shorten redevelopment and reconstruction deadlines since taking office. Nonetheless, if the People Power Party wins the presidential election, it is expected that Mayor Oh will face little difficulty in the Seoul mayoral election.

This presidential election is expected to be a challenging one for the Democratic Party due to the strong public opinion for regime change, failures in the Moon Jae-in administration’s real estate policies, and the Daejang-dong corruption allegations.

Accordingly, the Democratic Party’s Seoul mayoral candidates are likely to include former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun, who suffered a crushing defeat in the April 7 by-election against Mayor Oh, with other figures such as Representative Park Yong-jin also being mentioned.

If the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate wins, it is expected that other candidates besides former Minister Park and Representative Park will also challenge.

However, if the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate loses, there is growing speculation that former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon will enter the race, drawing attention.

Former Prime Minister Lee has a distinguished career as a five-term National Assembly member, former governor of Jeollanam-do, prime minister, and presidential pre-candidate. He rose significantly in the final stages of the party’s presidential primary but was eliminated amid internal conflicts during the candidate selection process.

For this reason, predictions are already emerging that Lee Nak-yeon will step forward for the party.

The Seoul district mayor and city council elections are also expected to favor the same party as the mayor.

Meanwhile, in the Seoul Jongno parliamentary election, former Jongno district mayor Kim Young-jong of the Democratic Party is canvassing the area based on strong local support, with former Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok also being mentioned.

The People Power Party is expected to find it difficult to make a final decision until the last moment regarding unification with Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party.

In Seocho Gap district, the People Power Party candidate is likely, with figures such as Supreme Council member Jung Mi-kyung, former lawmaker Jeon Hee-kyung, and former Seocho district mayor Cho Eun-hee running.

Thus, the March 9 presidential election results are expected to become a black hole that will determine the landscape of the Seoul mayoral election as well.

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