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

With the Progressive Party Entering the National Assembly, Competition Among Progressive Camps Accelerates Further

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, Kang received 17,382 votes in the Jeonju-eul constituency, 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 constituency 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 violations 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 dissolved 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, the party performed well, winning the Ulsan Dong-gu mayoral seat with Kim Jong-hoon, as well as three metropolitan council seats and 17 local council seats, outperforming the Justice Party, the third-largest party in the assembly, which won two metropolitan council seats and seven local council seats.

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’s attempt to target the Honam region only confirmed the high barriers.

Until now, the Progressive Party has concentrated its efforts in Jeonju-eul. They raised their profile by hanging banners with slogans such as “One year of prosecutorial dictatorship is more disgusting than 19 years of military dictatorship” criticizing the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s governance and livelihood issues, while also gaining support from labor unions and farmers’ organizations.

The Progressive Party’s entry into the National Assembly is expected to intensify competition within the progressive camp.

Jeon Gwon-hee, policy committee chair of the Progressive Party’s Jeonbuk provincial branch, said in a phone interview with this paper on the 4th, “Until now, the progressive camp has been represented by the Justice Party, but from the presidential election to recent developments, there seems to be some confusion among supporters. For this reason, we have heard that the Progressive Party should play the role of a new progressive party,” adding, “(With Kang’s election) we hope this will be an opportunity to show a clearer image as a progressive party.”

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