General election leaflets omit party leaders, aim for centrist and undecided votes

General election 2024

Published: 04 Apr. 2024, 18:17 Updated: 04 Apr. 2024, 19:43

General election leaflets omit party leaders, aim for centrist and undecided votes

Elderly voters look at campaign leaflets from candidates for the April 10 general election in Daejeon on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

Candidates for the April 10 general election are opting to not tap into the star power of their party leaders or President Yoon Suk Yeol on their campaign leaflets.

More than half of 505 parliamentary candidates from both the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative People Power Party (PPP) did not use images of the president or DP leader Lee Jae-myung, respective figureheads for each side of the political aisle, on their election campaign leaflets.

The findings by JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, suggest that candidates from both rival parties are putting a renewed focus on centrist and undecided voting groups, rather than their key political bases, amid dueling negative campaigns.

Out of 505 candidates vying for a seat representing electoral districts in the National Assembly, 341, or 67.5 percent, chose not to include a photo of Yoon or Lee in their official campaign leaflets released on Wednesday.

This strategy is considered uncommon, as election candidates often strive to gain public recognition and votes by aligning themselves with prominent figures like the president or star politicians.

Among 254 candidates from the PPP, which is aligned with the president, 181, or 71.2 percent, omitted an image of Yoon on their campaign advertisements. One out of three, or 36.6 percent, chose not to include Han Dong-hoon, the interim leader of the PPP.

For the DP, 160 candidates out of 251, or 63.7 percent, did not include Lee in their campaign leaflets.

Notably, only one of the PPP candidates running for the eight seats representing the posh neighborhoods in Gangnam District, Seocho District and Songpa District in southern Seoul included a photo of Yoon in their campaign leaflet.

Even those who chose to include Yoon reduced the size of his images, making them less visible. For example, an election leaflet of former Unification Minister Kwon Young-se — who is running for Yongsan District in central Seoul — featured a small photo of Yoon only on the bottom of the fifth page.

This marks a strong contrast to campaign strategies from previous general election candidates, as former President Moon Jae-in and former President Park Geun-hye made huge appearances in their respective party members’ campaign advertisements.

In particular, images of Moon featured on the front pages of campaign leaflets by 34 out of 41 elected DP lawmakers in Seoul, accounting for 82.9 percent of the total.

The case of omitting key figures occurs within the DP as well.

Lee made only one appearance on campaign leaflets from the 34 candidates in the Busan and South Gyeongsang regions. No candidates running for seats representing Jeju Island included Lee in their advertisements.

In Gyeonggi, where Lee previously served as the governor, only half, or 30 candidates, chose to include Lee’s photo.

“At this point, the leaders are considered highly unlikable, which won’t help winning centrists votes,” said an anonymous DP candidate running for a seat in Seoul.

The gap left behind by the leaders is instead being filled by heads of local governments, especially Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon for the PPP and Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon for the DP.

Oh featured on 58.3 percent of election campaign leaflets by PPP candidates in Seoul, which covers 28 electoral districts. Moreover, 15 candidates running in Incheon and Gyeonggi included their photos with Oh in their advertisements.

Meanwhile, Kim featured on a number of election leaflets from candidates in the greater Seoul area, including that of four-term DP lawmaker Jung Sung-ho in the Dongducheon-Yangju-Yeoncheon-A District in Gyeonggi. Jung is considered one of the closest allies of DP leader Lee.

A picture of Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, featured on an election campaign leaflet from former Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan of the People Power Party, center, running for the Jung-Yeongdo District in Busan. [NATIONAL ELECTION COMMISSION]

U.S. President Joe Biden and Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong also made unexpected appearances.

Former Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan of the PPP, running for the Jung-Yeongdo District in Busan, put his photo taken with Samsung chief Lee on the top of the fourth page of his leaflet.

The PPP’s three-term lawmaker Kim Tae-ho of Yangsan-B District in South Gyeongsang put a photo of him shaking hands with Biden on his campaign leaflet.

Another notable trend is that 19 DP candidates running in Seoul or nearby regions used a photo of Shin Min-ki, a minor progressive Justice Party spokesperson, being forcefully removed by presidential security during the KAIST commencement ceremony in February.

“The animosity between the two parties is so intense that bringing prominent figures into the election campaign is not really effective any more,” said Choi Chang-ryul, a politics professor at Yong In University.

“Meanwhile, using the photo [of Shin being dragged] to incite hostility against the other side shows an adversarial symbiosis [between the two camps],” Choi added.

BY KIM JEONG-JAE, SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]