Progressive Party Candidate Kang Seonghee Elected as National Assembly Member for Jeonju-eul... Progressive Party Enters the Assembly (Update)

The Progressive Party succeeded in entering the National Assembly through the April 5th and May 5th by-elections. Kang Seong-hee, the Progressive Party candidate who ran in the Jeonju-eul parliamentary by-election, was elected as a member of the National Assembly with 39.1% of the vote.

According to the Central Election Commission on the 6th, Candidate Kang received 17,382 votes in the Jeonju-eul electoral district, securing first place. With 100% of the votes counted, Kang led independent candidate Lim Jeong-yeop (32.1%, 14,288 votes).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Jeonju-eul electoral district was classified as a stronghold of the Democratic Party of Korea, but since former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik was forced to hold a re-election due to a violation of the Public Official Election Act, the Democratic Party did not field a candidate in this district.

The Progressive Party, the successor of the Unified Progressive Party which was disbanded as an unconstitutional party during the Park Geun-hye administration, was re-established as the Minjung Party in 2017 and changed its name back to the Progressive Party in 2020. In last year's local elections, it performed well by winning the Ulsan Dong-gu mayor seat with Kim Jong-hoon, as well as securing 3 metropolitan council seats and 17 local council seats, outperforming the Justice Party, the third-largest party in the assembly, which won 2 metropolitan council seats and 7 local council seats.

Candidate Kang is a former labor union official who worked for 18 years at Hyundai Motor's Jeonju plant and recently served as the secretary-general of the Jeonbuk branch of the National Delivery Workers' Union.

The Progressive Party formed an alliance with the Green Party and others for this election to respond jointly. The Justice Party did not field a candidate in this parliamentary election.

Meanwhile, Kim Kyung-min, the People Power Party candidate who attracted attention, received only 8.0% (3,561 votes), placing fifth behind Ahn Hae-uk (10.1%) and Kim Ho-seo (9.2%). With the Democratic Party not fielding a candidate, the People Power Party, which aimed to target the Honam region, only confirmed the high barriers.

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