Who Will Become the 78th Speaker of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly?

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Intense attention is focused on who will become the chairman of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, which will open in July. This is because in the simultaneous local elections held on the 1st, the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party each won 78 seats, marking a tie for the first time in history.

According to the current council rules, the chairman and vice-chairman are elected by a majority vote of the attending members. If no candidate receives a majority in the first round, a second round of voting is held. If there is still no majority winner in the second round, a runoff between the top two candidates is conducted, and the candidate with the most votes wins. If the runoff results in a tie, the elder candidate is elected.

Given this situation, the behind-the-scenes power struggle between the two parties over the election of the chairman and vice-chairman is already intense.

The People Power Party, through an agreement at a meeting of re-elected members on the 7th, selected Kim Gyu-chang (Yeoju 2), a three-term lawmaker, as their candidate for chairman. Nam Kyung-soon (Suwon 1) was chosen as the vice-chairman candidate, and Kwak Mi-sook (Goyang 6) was selected as the representative lawmaker of the negotiation group.

The Democratic Party plans to hold a general assembly of lawmakers on the 21st to finalize their candidates.

According to the Democratic Party, Yeom Dong-hyun (Bucheon 1), a four-term lawmaker, is emerging as the candidate for chairman. Kim Pan-su (Gunpo 4) and Lee Eun-joo (Hwaseong 7) are mentioned as candidates for vice-chairman, while Jeong Seung-hyun (Ansan 4) and Nam Jong-seop (Yongin 3) are being considered as candidates for representative lawmaker of the negotiation group. It is reported that Choi Man-sik (Seongnam 2) recently gave up on running for representative lawmaker after weighing his options.

Meanwhile, the provincial council will hold its first extraordinary session for two weeks from the 12th to the 25th of next month to elect the chairman and standing committee chairs.

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