Chang Se-jeong
The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.
Since local autonomy was restored after Korea’s democratization in 1987, uncontested victories in mayoral and gubernatorial elections have largely been limited to the Yeongnam and Honam regions, Korea's southwest and southeast areas, respectively. Conservative parties often declined to field candidates in liberal strongholds in Honam, while progressive parties sometimes avoided races in conservative parts of Yeongnam. The result reflected the entrenched dominance of Korea’s two-party regional politics.
Lim Byung-taek, the Democratic Party candidate for mayor of Siheung in Gyeonggi, effectively secured a third term without a vote after registering as the sole candidate in the June 3 local elections. [PHOTO COURTESY OF LIM BYUNG-TAEK’S CAMPAIGN]
The same pattern is appearing again in the June 3 local elections. A total of 504 candidates in 307 electoral districts, including three local government chief races, secured office without facing opponents before the official campaign period began on May 21. Gwangju and South Jeolla accounted for 80 uncontested winners, while Daegu and North Gyeongsang produced 70.
The two major parties deserve criticism for eliminating even the minimum process of policy debate and public scrutiny in elections involving officials who oversee budgets ranging from billions to trillions of won.
Still, the capital region had until now remained different. No uncontested local government chief had ever emerged in the Seoul metropolitan area. That record was broken in the Siheung mayoral election in Gyeonggi.
The uncontested winners may celebrate, but the fact that the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) failed even to field a candidate in a metropolitan-area city and effectively handed the ruling party a free victory cannot be dismissed lightly.
Above all, the PPP should question whether it still deserves to be called a major political party after depriving voters of any meaningful choice.
Siheung is not a small town. With a population of 510,000, it ranks as Korea’s 17th-largest city. It faces major issues involving housing, transportation, welfare and education. Political parties have an obligation to present solutions during campaigns and submit them for public evaluation.
By failing even to nominate a candidate, the party embarrassed itself while continuing to claim that it is prepared to govern the country.
The episode also exposed the weakness of the party’s election strategy. If the PPP cannot even find candidates to compete in key battlegrounds in the capital region, its organizational foundations are clearly eroding.
Since the Dec. 3, 2024, martial law crisis and its defeat in the early presidential election, the party has remained consumed by internal conflict. Leadership disputes, including turmoil surrounding the replacement of the nomination committee chief, deepened the chaos and revealed the party’s inability to resolve problems quickly.
Yet the leadership’s explanation has sounded inadequate. Party officials said they held two rounds of candidate recruitment for the Siheung mayoral race but failed to attract applicants. If that logic is accepted, would the party also refuse to field candidates in future parliamentary elections?
Party leaders insist Siheung is a traditional conservative weak spot, but the numbers tell a more complicated story. Democratic Party (DP) candidates have indeed won six of the city’s eight mayoral elections, while conservative candidates have won twice. But in the 2022 election, the vote share gap was relatively narrow, with the DP candidate winning 55.5 percent against 44.4 percent for the conservative candidate.
The Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission conducts a publicity campaign using signs and an airship near Yeouido Hangang Park in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, on May 18 to encourage voter participation in local elections. [YONHAP]
The leadership of PPP chairman Jang Dong-hyeok has meanwhile appeared largely absent. Jang, who pushed former chairman Han Dong-hoon out of party leadership after Han opposed martial law, has failed to provide a convincing vision for rebuilding conservatism after the political crisis.
Despite support ratings that have fallen to roughly half those of the ruling party, conservatives remain trapped in factional conflict without presenting a clear recovery strategy. Against that backdrop, photographs of Jang smiling in Washington during an important election period created frustration among supporters.
The PPP has also fallen behind the DP in identifying and developing younger political talent. Siheung Mayor Lim Byung-taek, first elected in 2018 at age 44, has now secured a third term.
Some may dismiss the loss of one mayoral race among Korea’s 227 municipal governments as insignificant. That would be a mistake. If conservatives hope to restrain the ruling party’s growing dominance, they must first overcome incompetence and division within their own ranks.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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