Ulsan Election Results: A Complex Picture of Cross-Voting
The final results of the 6.3 local elections in Ulsan City present a delicate balance, making it difficult to declare a clear victory for either of the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the People Power Party.
It is understood that the 'cross-voting' by voters who chose different parties and candidates for different elections influenced this outcome.
The Democratic Party's greatest achievement is its victory in the race for the metropolitan mayor, which can be considered the flagship of local elections.
The process by which Kim Sang-wook, a former lawmaker who was mentioned as one of the Ulsan mayoral candidates, instantly created a stir, winning through the party primary, the unification of candidates from the Democratic and progressive camps, and ultimately the main election, is a highly commendable achievement.
In particular, after producing Mayor Song Cheol-ho in Ulsan for the first time with a Democratic Party lineage in the 7th local elections in 2018, the party has regained the metropolitan mayor position, which was lost to the People Power Party in the 8th elections in 2022, proving that the perception of 'Ulsan being a conservative stronghold' has now faded after four years.
However, the Democratic Party's performance in elections other than the Ulsan mayoralty was relatively poor.
First, the closely watched by-election for the National Assembly seat in Nam-gu Gap was ultimately lost to the People Power Party.
Although this area is considered a 'difficult constituency' with a strong conservative tendency even in Ulsan, there were high expectations given the strong nationwide wind for the Democratic Party in this election.
In response, the party strategically placed Jeon Tae-jin, the 'No. 1 recruited talent' selected by the central party ahead of this election, but he ultimately could not overcome Kim Tae-gyu, the elected official from the People Power Party.
In the elections to select five heads of local governments, the Democratic Party managed to secure only one seat, the Buk-gu mayoralty, out of the four districts where it fielded candidates.
The Democratic Party and the Progressive Party, according to their candidate unification agreement, fielded Democratic Party candidates in Jung-gu, Nam-gu, Buk-gu, and Ulju-gun, and a Progressive Party candidate in Dong-gu, to compete against the People Power Party. The fact that they lost in four of these five districts to the People Power Party is even more shocking.
The metropolitan council elections are also considered a strong showing for the People Power Party.
In the 8th local elections four years ago, the People Power Party achieved an overwhelming victory, winning 21 out of a total of 22 seats, including district and proportional representation. However, ahead of this election, projections were not favorable, with predictions that 'even a majority might be precarious.'
But when the results were tallied, the People Power Party secured 15 seats, achieving a strong performance that comfortably secured a majority.
The Democratic and progressive camps, which fielded unified candidates against the People Power Party, had to be content with increasing their seats to 6, while the Progressive Party narrowly avoided a complete shutout by winning 1 seat.
This performance, ambiguous to be defined as a one-sided victory or defeat, is well reflected in the statements released by the Ulsan branches of the Democratic Party and the People Power Party on the 4th.
The Democratic Party's Ulsan branch held a press conference and stated, "While we achieved a meaningful result with the victory in the Ulsan mayoral election, we have many challenges ahead in the local government elections except for Buk-gu and the Nam-gu Gap by-election." They added, "We did not properly understand the citizens' hearts, and simply talking about the need for change was not enough to win their choice."
The People Power Party's Ulsan branch stated in a press release, "We were able to receive the precious choice of the citizens by producing a member of the National Assembly and four heads of local governments and securing a majority in the city council, but we were not chosen in the mayoral election." They continued, "We will take the criticism and expectations seriously, and stand by the citizens with a humbler attitude, deeply reflecting on the public sentiment."
Meanwhile, the Progressive Party, which ran in the elections in alliance with the Democratic Party, and the New Reform Party, which fielded candidates for the first time after establishing its Ulsan branch, received meager results.
Although three candidates selected through the unification primary with the Democratic Party ran as unified Democratic-Progressive candidates for the Progressive Party, only one was victorious.
In the Nam-gu mayoralty election for the New Reform Party, candidate Bang In-seop received 4.96% of the vote, finishing third among three candidates. In the Nam-gu Gap by-election, where party chairman Kim Dong-chil ran, he finished last among four candidates with a 2.51% voter turnout.
