What Is the Secret to Jung Won-oh's Third-Term Election as Seongdong District Mayor?

4·7 By-election and Presidential Election: Despite consecutive People Power Party strongholds, Democratic Jung Won-oh wins overwhelming 3rd term as District Mayor
...Voters respond to local government capabilities demonstrated by resolving Seongdong-gu’s long-standing projects and attracting Seoul’s first vaccination center

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] A surprising figure emerged in the Seoul district mayor elections held on the 1st during the 8th term of direct elections.

That person is Jung Won-oh, the mayor of Seongdong District.

Seongdong District was a region where the People Power Party’s Yoon Seok-yeol candidate defeated the Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung candidate by a margin of about 20,000 votes in the 20th presidential election held on March 9.

This area is known as the Han River-side region of Mapo-Yongsan-Seongdong, commonly called 'Mayongsung.'

In this region, Mayor Jung won the recent local election by securing 79,786 votes, beating his opponent by a margin of 21,078 votes (10%).

Because of this, there was genuine surprise about whether such a phenomenon was even possible.

Seongdong District is considered one of the affluent areas in northern Seoul, mainly composed of apartment complexes. In such an area, there was skepticism about whether a district mayor could achieve this regardless of how well they performed.

However, the press release sent by Mayor Jung’s campaign on the 2nd explained, “Is this an upset or the premium of an incumbent? No. It is the birth of new voters choosing a ‘competent local government.’”

At the center of this is Jung Won-oh, the current mayor of Seongdong District. It proudly announced that Jung Won-oh is the only three-term mayor elected in Seoul in the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections on June 1, with the highest voter turnout and the highest vote share among Democratic Party mayors.

Mayor Jung boasted that in the 2018 7th term local elections, he received nearly 20% more votes than then-Mayor Park Won-soon.

At that time, this explanation felt somewhat exaggerated.

However, this election confirmed that Mayor Jung’s competitiveness is clear.

Jung’s campaign explained that during the April 7 by-elections last year in Seongdong District, candidate Oh Se-hoon received 59.8% and candidate Park Young-sun received 37.2%.

In the presidential election, Yoon Seok-yeol received 52.7% and Lee Jae-myung 42.8%. According to the Korean Social Opinion Institute (KOSI) poll released by Herald Economy on May 26, the only public poll during the campaign period, Jung Won-oh was ahead of People Power Party candidate Kang Maeng-hoon by only 0.6 percentage points, as explained again that day.

However, the result was that Jung Won-oh, mayor of Seongdong District, won with 57.6% of the vote, defeating Kang Maeng-hoon of the People Power Party, who received 42.4%, by a margin of 15.2 percentage points.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was re-elected with about 58% of the vote, leading in all 25 autonomous districts of Seoul, but in Seongdong District, Mayor Jung Won-oh achieved a vote share comparable to Mayor Oh. The pre-vote analysis predicting a close race was wrong, and there was no sign of ‘line voting.’

Why did Seongdong District voters choose Mayor Jung Won-oh? The answer lies in the ‘competent local government.’ Mayor Jung, a two-term mayor, ran for a third term in this election. Over the past eight years, he resolved major long-standing issues such as the demolition of the Sampyo Ready-Mix Concrete factory, road expansion of Jangteo-gil in front of Kumho Station, and the confirmed establishment of the GTX-C line at Wangsimni Station, earning a strong reputation as a ‘capable district mayor.’

Additionally, Seongdong District was recognized as one of the best local governments in responding to COVID-19 nationwide, resulting in high satisfaction among local residents. During the 2020 mask shortage, it was the first among Seoul’s 25 districts to distribute masks to all residents, attracted Seoul’s first vaccination center, and provided quarantine packages to confirmed cases, demonstrating thorough prevention and recovery efforts. According to a 2021 Seoul Institute survey, Seongdong District ranked first in resident trust among Seoul’s 25 districts.

Based on his administrative experience, Mayor Jung Won-oh has published books presenting his unique urban philosophy: The Paradox of Cities, Gentrification (2016), Urban Innovation, Smart City (2018), and Sustainable City ESG (2021). Reviewer Eum Seong-won stated in the review of Sustainable City ESG (2021), “This book, which views urban administration from the perspective of sustainability, is rare and valuable in itself and should be continuously considered in the future.”

Experts say Mayor Jung Won-oh’s election victory lies in the ‘competent local government.’ Improved government operation capacity increases government trust, which in turn leads to voter support. It can be evaluated that this election reflected regional characteristics rather than being a local election based on nationwide homogeneity.

Professor Kim Eun-joo (Hansung University, Public Administration) analyzed the Seongdong District mayoral election, saying, “Recently, local governments’ authority and responsibilities have increased due to COVID-19, and citizens recognized this and voted accordingly.”

In the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections, Seongdong District recorded a voter turnout of 55.5%, 2.3 percentage points higher than the Seoul average, ranking second after Seocho District. Historically, Seongdong District’s local election turnout has been around the Seoul average, so this notably high turnout indicates that voters’ awareness of local government has increased.

Now, Mayor Jung Won-oh will become the only three-term mayor among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts. There is also growing interest in whether he will become the representative chairman of the Seoul Association of District Mayors, a position traditionally held by three-term mayors.

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