PPP makes gains in local elections, exit poll shows

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PPP makes gains in local elections, exit poll shows

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), center, cheers after the three major broadcasters announce the results of a joint exit poll for the June 1 local elections, watching from his campaign headquarters at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul Wednesday evening. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), center, cheers after the three major broadcasters announce the results of a joint exit poll for the June 1 local elections, watching from his campaign headquarters at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul Wednesday evening. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The People Power Party (PPP) appeared to win major victories in local elections and parliamentary by-elections Wednesday.  
 
A joint exit poll by KBS, MBC and SBS indicated PPP candidates winning 10 of 17 metropolitan mayor and provincial governor posts contested in Wednesday's elections. This included the expected reelection of the PPP's Oh Se-hoon as Seoul mayor, beating Song Young-gil, former chairman of the Democratic Party (DP).
 
The elections took place just 22 days after the inauguration of President Yoon Suk-yeol of the PPP.
 
The DP looked set to win four mayoral and gubernatorial posts — Gwangju, North and South Jeolla and Jeju — according to the exit poll released shortly after voting ended at 7:30 p.m.  
 
Three races, including the Gyeonggi governor race, were too close to call according to the exit poll.  
 
An exit poll conducted by JTBC forecast the PPP winning nine mayoral and gubernatorial posts and the DP four. It found four posts — in Gyeonggi, Sejong, Daejeon and South Chungcheong — as too close to call.  
 
In the local elections, 4,125 candidates participated. Mayoral and gubernatorial posts in 17 cities and provinces were being contested, as were regional education office chief, lower-level administrative, provincial and metropolitan council and other lower-level local council posts.  
 
Voting took place from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 14,465 polling centers. People with Covid-19 or those undergoing quarantine voted between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Ballot boxes were transferred to 255 counting stations nationwide for tallying, which started at 8 p.m. and was expected to continue overnight.  
 
Turnout as of 7:30 p.m. was 50.9 percent out of 44,303,449 eligible voters, according to the National Election Commission (NEC), lower than expectations. In contrast, early voting turnout was 20.62 percent, the highest ever for a local election.  
 
Over 9.13 million people already cast their ballots during the advance voting period last Friday and Saturday.  
 
The total turnout was short of the 60.2 percent reached in 2018 local elections. For the April 15 general elections in 2020, the turnout was 66.2 percent. Turnout for the March 9 presidential election was 77.1 percent. In general, turnout for local elections is lower than that for presidential and general elections.  
 
The June 1 local elections came less than three months after the presidential election that resulted in a narrow victory for the Yoon over the DP's Lee Jae-myung. It is an early litmus test for the Yoon government and its popularity.  
 
It marked a quick turnaround for presidential candidates in the March 9 election, including Lee Jae-myung and his ally Kim Dong-yeon and the PPP's Ahn Cheol-soo. Lee ran for a parliamentary seat in Incheon's Gyeyang district and Ahn for a seat in Gyeonggi's Bundang district.  
 
The PPP and DP campaigned especially hard in the races for Seoul mayor and Gyeonggi governor.
 
Oh Se-hoon is expected to become the first person to serve a fourth term as Seoul mayor. Oh served two terms, from 2006 to 2010, and returned to the post by winning a by-election in April 2021. He was expected to beat Song Young-gil, a former fifth-term DP lawmaker and ex-mayor of Incheon, with 58.7 percent in the three-broadcaster exit poll, compared to 40.2 percent for Song.
 
In Gyeonggi, the PPP's Kim Eun-hye, a former lawmaker and Yoon's transition committee spokesperson, and the DP's Kim Dong-yeon, a former finance minister, ran neck and neck for governor until the end. The PPP's Kim was narrowly in the lead, with 49.4 percent against DP Kim's 48.8 percent, according to the joint exit poll.
 
Kim Dong-yeon dropped out of the recent presidential race to support Lee Jae-myung and merged his minor New Wave Party with the DP in April. A former news anchor for MBC, the PPP's Kim Eun-hye served as a presidential spokesperson during the Lee Myung-bak administration and until recently was a lawmaker representing Bundang-A district.
 
In Incheon, PPP's Yoo Jeong-bok was in the lead, with 51.2 percent compared to 45.7 percent for incumbent mayor Park Nam-chun of the DP.  
 
The seven contested parliamentary seats were in Suseong District in Daegu; Gyeyang District in Incheon; Bundang District in Seongnam; Wonju in Gangwon; Seocheon County in Boryeong, South Chungcheong; Changwon in South Gyeongsang; and Jeju City.
 
Ahn Cheol-soo, Yoon's transition team chairman, was forecast to win a seat representing Bundang-A district in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. He received 64 percent of the votes, according to the joint exit poll, beating DP's Kim Byoung-gwan, a former lawmaker who had represented the constituency.  
 
Ahn, a software mogul-turned-politician, dropped out of the March presidential race at the last minute to support Yoon and merged his minor People's Party with the PPP. The race was a crucial one for Ahn, a three-time presidential contender, to secure his position in the PPP.
 
Lee Jae-myung, a former Gyeonggi governor, was expected to secure a seat in Incheon's Gyeyang-B district, running against the PPP's Yoon Hyung-sun, a doctor who runs an internal medicine clinic. Lee received 54.1 percent and Yoon 45.9 percent in the exit poll.
 
In 2018, the DP won a landslide local election victory, winning 14 out of 17 key mayoral and gubernatorial posts.
 
The DP achieved another major victory in the 2020 general elections and currently holds 167 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, while the PPP has 109 seats.
 
 

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
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