Ruling DP Poised for Sweeping Victory in Local Elections, Opposition Faces Crushing Defeat

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party (DP) was poised for a sweeping victory in the local elections in a crushing defeat for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), interim vote counting showed Thursday, a result expected to give President Lee Jae Myung a stronger mandate in his second year in office.

The DP was projected to win as many as 14 of the 16 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial posts at stake, while the PPP was headed to secure only one or two key races, according to early ballot counts by the National Election Commission (NEC).

Eleven out of the 16 key races were called or close to being called as of 2 a.m., with the ruling party winning 10 of the 11 races. The DP was also ahead in three of the rest of the five races where it was still too close to call.

Wednesday's elections were held exactly one year after the Lee administration took office on June 4.

A clear victory for the ruling party would likely solidify the government's mandate to push forward with its reform measures, while dealing a blow to the embattled PPP as it struggles to rebuild conservative support following former President Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster.

It would also mark a sharp turnaround in voter sentiment from four years earlier, when the then ruling PPP had claimed 12 out of 17 major gubernatorial and mayoral positions in the last local elections. The 2022 local elections were held a month after Yoon took office.

Two exit polls -- one conducted by broadcaster JTBC and the other jointly by KBS, MBC and SBS , projected the DP to win 11 of the 16 key races, while the PPP was leading in just one race -- the governorship of North Gyeongsang Province.

Also at stake in this year's local elections were 16 education superintendent seats, along with 227 heads of local governments and some 4,000 members of local councils.

In the biggest battleground of Seoul, Chong Won-o of the DP was projected to defeat incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the PPP, with over 48 percent of the vote counted as of 2 a.m.

In Gyeonggi Province, veteran DP lawmaker Choo Mi-ae was certain to win by a wide margin with 55 percent, against the PPP's Yang Hyang-ja at 39 percent. Choo is set to become the country's first female head of a provincial government.

The capital region -- home to roughly half of the country's population -- is often considered a key, if not the most important, battleground.

In the southeastern city of Busan, DP candidate Jeon Jae-soo was leading against the PPP's Park Heong-joon by a slim margin.

Also up for grabs were 14 parliamentary seats in closely watched by-elections across the country, including races in Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, Daegu and Busan.

Of the 14 assembly seats at stake, 13 were previously held by the ruling party.

A neck-and-neck race was unfolding in the high-stakes Buk-A constituency in Busan.

With more than 75 percent of the ballots counted, the DP's Ha Jung-woo was ahead of independent Han Dong-hoon, a former PPP leader, by a razor-thin margin of less than one percentage point.

Ha previously served as presidential secretary to Lee for artificial intelligence policy and future planning.

The closely watched race of the Pyeongtaek-B constituency also saw a tight race between three candidates.

Yu Eui-dong of the PPP held a slim lead of less than 5 percentage points over Cho Kuk, leader of the liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, and Kim Yong-nam of the DP.

The outcomes of the two races will determine whether Han and Cho, both widely considered to be potential presidential contenders, will secure seats at the National Assembly.

The elections are widely seen as the first nationwide test for Lee, who was elected in a snap presidential election following the ouster of Yoon over his botched martial law bid in December 2024.

Throughout its election campaign, the DP had urged the public to make a stern judgment on what it called the "remnants" of Yoon's "insurrectionist forces."

Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment by a district court in February for his failed martial law bid.

The exit polls and early ballot counts by the NEC suggested the DP was headed for a sweeping victory, though recent surveys had shown races tightening with the PPP in recent weeks.

Backed by President Lee's solid approval ratings, the DP, which holds a parliamentary majority, hopes to safeguard its seats to strengthen the party's legislative momentum.

The PPP had sought to shore up conservative support as it attempted to rebuild the conservative bloc amid declining public support and growing internal rifts in the aftermath of Yoon's failed martial law bid.

Early polls, however, suggested the embattled party could face mounting challenges going forward.

This year's elections were partly marred by an unprecedented shortage of ballots at 14 polling stations in parts of Seoul, prompting the temporary suspension of voting there, with some voters said to have left without voting.

The PPP was quick to raise issues over poor election management, calling on the NEC to immediately stop the vote counting and hold a revote if necessary.

Winners were expected to emerge around midnight, with results in closely contested races to come well past midnight and possibly into early Thursday partly due to delays caused by the ballot shortage.

Voting took place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 14,288 polling centers nationwide, with the exception of one of the affected polling stations in Songpa Ward, which extended the voting hours to 10 p.m.