[June 3 Election] 781 Candidates Registered in Gwangju and Jeonnam... Numerous Unopposed Wins Amid Democratic Party Dominance

Five Candidates Registered for Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special Mayor, Four for Unified Superintendent, and Six for Gwangsan-eul By-election
Democratic Party Fields Most Candidates with 446, Followed by Independents, Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and Progressive Party
Women Make Up 28.7% and Young Candidates 10.9%; Oldest Candidate Is 79, Youngest Is 27
Over 50 Candidates Expected to Be Elected Unopposed in Basic Local Government and Council Constituencies

According to preliminary counts from the registration results for the June 3 local elections and the Gwangju Gwangsan-eul National Assembly by-election, a total of 781 candidates have registered across all constituencies in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions, including the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special Mayor election. This figure includes candidates for heads of local governments, local council members, and the National Assembly by-election.

As of May 16, the National Election Commission’s candidate registration data shows the following: 5 candidates for Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special Mayor, 4 for Unified Superintendent of Education, 6 for the Gwangju Gwangsan-eul National Assembly by-election, 73 for basic local government heads, 128 for metropolitan council district seats, 463 for basic council district seats, 25 for metropolitan council proportional representation, and 77 for basic council proportional representation.

Candidates registered for the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special Mayor election are Min Hyung-bae from the Democratic Party, Lee Jung-hyun from the People Power Party, Lee Jong-uk from the Progressive Party, Kang Eun-mi from the Justice Party, and independent candidate Kim Kwang-man.

Preliminary Candidates for the Mayor of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Integrated Special City. Yonhap News

Candidate Min highlighted his experience as a two-term lawmaker and as a secretary in the presidential offices of Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in. Candidate Lee emphasized his background as a three-term lawmaker and his roles as Senior Political Affairs Secretary and Senior Public Relations Secretary at the Blue House. Lee Jong-uk is a former head of the Gwangju Regional Chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Kang Eun-mi served as a 21st National Assembly member and chaired the Gwangju chapter of the Justice Party. Kim Kwang-man reported his experience as an invited professor at the College of Business Administration at Honam University.

The Unified Superintendent of Education election will be contested by four candidates: Kang Sook-young, Lee Jung-seon, Jang Kwan-ho, and Kim Dae-jung.

Yonhap News Agency

For the Gwangju Gwangsan-eul National Assembly by-election, six candidates have registered: Lim Moon-young from the Democratic Party, An Tae-uk from the People Power Party, Bae Su-jin from the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, Jeon Ju-yeon from the Progressive Party, Shin Ji-hye from the Basic Income Party, and independent candidate Koo Bon-ki.

Excluding the superintendent candidates, the Democratic Party had the highest number of registered candidates at 446. This was followed by independent candidates (143), Cho Kuk Innovation Party (84), Progressive Party (68), People Power Party (12), Justice Party (12), and Basic Income Party (7).

Among the 775 local election candidates, 223 were women, accounting for 28.7% of the total. Of the 73 basic local government head candidates, only two were women: Shin Soo-jung of the Democratic Party running for Gwangju Buk-gu district head, and Jeong Yeon-ji, an independent, running for Hwasun County head.

Comparing the candidate registration data with the number of seats per constituency, it is expected that more than 50 candidates—mostly from the Democratic Party—will be elected unopposed, including two basic local government heads: Kim Ikang for Gwangju Seo-gu and Kim Byeong-nae for Nam-gu. Most of these are members of the Democratic Party.

The average age of all candidates was 56.7 years. There were 85 candidates aged 45 or younger, making up 10.9% of the total.

The oldest candidate was Choi Shin-ung, an independent running for Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City Council in Shinan County’s 2nd constituency, at 79 years of age. The youngest candidates were Lim In-seung and Lee Jae-hyun, both 27 years old and Democratic Party candidates for proportional representation seats in Gwangju Gwangsan-gu and Suncheon City councils, respectively.

The average reported assets among the candidates were 832,349,000 won, with the median reported at 499,697,000 won.

The highest reported assets belonged to Kim Hoe-su, an independent candidate for Hwasun County head, with 26,115,230,000 won. The lowest was reported by Democratic Party candidate Lee Haeng-do, who is running for Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City Council in Yeongam County’s 1st constituency, declaring liabilities of 389,195,000 won.

The candidate who paid the most taxes in the past five years was also Kim Hoe-su, who reported paying 1,616,230,000 won over that period. In the past five years, 92 candidates reported having a history of tax delinquencies, and currently, four candidates still have outstanding taxes: Bang Pyeong-won (independent, Damyang County Council constituency D), Kim Ik-man (independent, Jangheung County Council constituency A), Yang Kwang (Democratic Party, Jindo County Council constituency A), and Jeon Nam-joo (Cho Kuk Innovation Party, Shinan County Council constituency B).

A total of 307 candidates, or 39.5%, had a criminal record. By number of offenses, 167 had 1 record, 63 had 2, 39 had 3, 19 had 4, 11 had 5, 3 had 6, 4 had 7, and 1 candidate had 9 criminal records.

The candidate with the most criminal records was Shin Young-guk, an independent running for Yeongam County Council constituency A, with nine offenses.

Among candidates subject to military service reporting, 489 had completed their military service, while 63 had not.

The candidate who has run for office the most times was Choi Shin-ung, an independent running for Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City Council in Shinan County’s 2nd constituency, who has declared candidacy ten times, including this registration.

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