"Riding the Momentum of Presidential Victory" Clear Concentration of Pre-Candidates Registering for Local Elections in People Power Party

Democratic Party Candidate Verification Underway
"Verify After Preliminary Candidate Registration" Official Letter
Determined After Presidential Defeat Lowers Election Chances
People Power Party Faces Candidate Overcrowding, Signs of Heated Primaries

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Democratic Party of Korea's central committee has recently sent an official letter to city and provincial party branches regarding the June 1 simultaneous local elections, instructing, "Do not register as a preliminary candidate directly with the National Election Commission, but undergo party verification first before registering." The Democratic Party is exhibiting a cautious stance following its presidential election defeat, and since party rules mandate verification before candidate registration as an essential procedure, this directive was issued. However, as a result, while the People Power Party has seen a flood of preliminary candidate registrations for the local elections, the Democratic Party is experiencing a drought in preliminary candidate registrations due to lowered chances of winning following the presidential election loss.

According to the Democratic Party on the 17th, the party sent such an official letter to the 17 city and provincial party branches on the 15th. Accordingly, the party is receiving verification applications divided into metropolitan mayoral candidates, metropolitan council members (constituency and proportional representation), basic local government heads, and basic council members (constituency and proportional representation), and conducting screening procedures through the Public Office Candidate Verification Committee.

Earlier, on the 10th, the Democratic Party announced at the Supreme Council meeting that those who do not fall under the seven major crimes related to candidacy for the simultaneous local elections (violent crimes, drunk driving, hit-and-run driving, sexual violence/sex trade, domestic violence, child abuse, speculative multiple home ownership) would be granted eligibility to register as preliminary candidates with the election commission of the relevant electoral district. The Democratic Party has established a verification procedure for this, and if one registers as a preliminary candidate without going through this procedure, they will be excluded from the nomination screening. However, including the verification process has caused the party’s candidates to start somewhat later than those of the People Power Party, and the absolute number of candidates has significantly decreased due to the presidential election defeat. This contrasts with the People Power Party, which is showing signs of heated primaries and nomination conflicts due to candidate proliferation and unification issues.

According to the National Election Commission’s statistical system, as of 10 a.m. on this day, the number of registered preliminary candidates nationwide for the simultaneous local elections (total metropolitan mayors, metropolitan council members, basic local government heads, basic council members) reached 855 for the People Power Party, while the Democratic Party had only 65. A Democratic Party floor official explained, "There is a saying that after the election defeat, the only place where the party can win in the local elections is Honam," adding, "From the People Power Party’s perspective, there is strong momentum to carry the success of regime change into the local elections, whereas for the Democratic Party, it is not easy to generate such momentum, which is why the party is showing a more cautious approach."

Preliminary candidate registration for the June 1 simultaneous local elections began in earnest after the presidential election. Registration for metropolitan mayors started on the 1st of last month, and for basic local government heads on the 18th of the same month, but the fact that individual election campaigning was effectively prohibited until the presidential election day had a significant impact.

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