Power Shift in Seoul Metropolitan Council... Who Will Be the Chairperson for the First Half?

Interest in who will take the temporary roles starting July 1 for the 11th Seoul Metropolitan Council's first half Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and 12 Standing Committee Chairs... Most senior 4-term lawmaker Kim Hyun-ki of People Power Party is a strong candidate... 3-term People Power Party's Choi Ho-jung and Democratic Party's Woo Hyung-chan and Kim In-je also mentioned

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] As a result of the 8th local elections under direct popular vote, the power in the Seoul Metropolitan Council has also shifted to the People Power Party.

In the election held on the 1st, the People Power Party secured 70 out of 101 constituency seats, while the Democratic Party of Korea won 31 seats. Including proportional representation seats?6 for the People Power Party and 5 for the Democratic Party?the People Power Party holds 76 seats (65%), and the Democratic Party holds 36 seats (32%).

This is a dramatic change compared to four years ago when the Seoul Metropolitan Council was dominated by over 90% of one party.

Accordingly, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon now has a much more favorable environment to implement his pledges, such as supporting the underprivileged.

Additionally, the 11th Seoul Metropolitan Council, which begins on July 1, is expected to prepare for the election of 12 standing committee chairs, including the council chairperson, vice-chairperson, and operations committee chairperson.

Among the members of the 11th Seoul Metropolitan Council, the longest-serving councilors are Kim Hyun-ki of the People Power Party (Gangnam-gu 3rd electoral district) and Kim Ki-deok of the Democratic Party (Mapo-gu 4th electoral district), both serving their fourth term.

Therefore, it seems highly likely that Kim Hyun-ki of the majority People Power Party will be elected as the chairperson for the first half of the 11th council. Kim Ki-deok of the Democratic Party, who served as vice-chairperson in the latter half of the 10th council, is expected to have a notable position.

Also, the third-term councilors include Choi Ho-jung of the People Power Party (Seocho-gu 4th electoral district), and Woo Hyung-chan (Yangcheon-gu 3rd electoral district) and Kim In-je (Guro-gu 2nd electoral district) of the Democratic Party. It is likely that one of Choi Ho-jung, Kim In-je, or Woo Hyung-chan will serve as vice-chairperson.

Furthermore, there are 25 second-term councilors in total: nine from the People Power Party?Kim Won-tae, Nam Chang-jin, Min Byung-joo, Park Jung-hwa, Lee Seong-bae, Lee Sook-ja, Lee Jong-hwan, Park Hwan-hee, and Do Moon-yeol?and sixteen from the Democratic Party?Kang Dong-gil, Kim Kyung, Bong Yang-soon, Sung Heum-je, Song Do-ho, Song Jae-hyuk, Yoo Jeong-hee, Lee Byung-do, Lee Sang-hoon, Lee Seung-mi, Lee Young-sil, Lim Man-gyun, Lim Jong-guk, Jeon Byung-joo, Jeong Jin-sul, and Choi Ki-chan?who are expected to take on standing committee chair positions.

Accordingly, based on the seat distribution, it is anticipated that the People Power Party will receive nine standing committee chair positions, while the Democratic Party will be allocated three.

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