Justice Party's Gangseo District Mayor Candidate Scores Just Over 1%... Fading Presence

Candidate Kwon Sujeong only achieves 1.83% vote share
Also loses momentum for 'Innovative Reestablishment'
"Minor parties' voices drowned out in two-party system"

The Justice Party received a dismal report card in the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo District, Seoul, held on the 11th. Justice Party candidate Kwon Su-jeong garnered only 1.83% of the vote, barely 0.45 percentage points ahead of Jinbo Party candidate Kwon Hye-in, who received 1.38%.

The Justice Party was once a party that showed a clear presence within the two-party system, with party support rates reaching as high as 16%. However, after consecutive defeats in last year's presidential and local elections, its presence began to decline sharply. With low vote shares continuing through this by-election, the party now faces concerns about its survival.

On the 28th, at the intersection near Wujangsan Station in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Kwon Su-jeong, the Justice Party candidate for Gangseo District Mayor, appealed to citizens for support at the launch ceremony of her campaign headquarters.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th, the day after the Gangseo District mayoral by-election, Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi said at the Executive Committee meeting, "This election defeat is entirely due to the shortcomings of the Justice Party," adding, "I take this as a whip, indicating that the Justice Party's efforts at innovation over the past year have fallen far short of the public's expectations."

She continued, "It has become even clearer that without painful self-reflection and fundamental change, we cannot look forward to next year's general election. The responsibility for the defeat in the Gangseo District mayoral election lies with the party leader who led the election," and added, "We will explore all possible measures to revive the party."

Following two election defeats last year, the Justice Party sought new avenues by promoting an 'innovative re-founding' through alliances with third political forces such as labor and green parties. However, this momentum has been lost due to the recent by-election defeat. Within the Justice Party, voices calling for revisions to the direction of the innovative re-founding, including the resignation of the party leader, have emerged.

The reason the Justice Party fails to assert its presence is attributed to the intense confrontation between the two major parties, creating an environment where third parties find it difficult to stand out. As the conflict between camps intensifies, third parties fail to attract attention, and votes tend to concentrate on the two major parties. In the Gangseo District mayoral by-election, not only the Justice Party but also other third parties such as the Jinbo Party, Green Party, and Liberty Unification Party failed to make any significant impact.

Former Justice Party lawmaker Park Won-seok said on KBS's 'The Live' on the 11th, "Because the two-party centered structure is so strong, the voices of minority parties including the Justice Party were not heard at all by Gangseo District voters, resulting in a vote share with little significance," adding, "They claim to do politics as an alternative to the two-party system, but they are not receiving evaluations in that regard."

He added, "With the current level of preparation, it will be very difficult to find any meaningful breakthrough in next year's general election, and it seems to be a time to seek new strategies or a change in direction."

However, there are also criticisms that despite efforts to promote innovative re-founding, the Justice Party has failed to present a clear identity and message.

Former lawmaker Park said on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' "Even if the Justice Party lacked political power, it was perceived as a party that spoke the right words and addressed the limitations of two-party politics properly, but that trust capital has completely bottomed out," adding, "There have been many twists and turns in the relationship with the Democratic Party, including being a 'second proxy,' but now it has become a situation of neither this nor that. These days, their position is only to criticize the two major parties, but that alone does not make a party."

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