Jeon Seong-su secured a commanding reelection victory as district mayor of Seocho-gu.
Jeon defeated Democratic Party candidate Hwang In-sik in the 9th nationwide local elections held Wednesday to win a second term.
Seocho-gu is widely regarded as the most conservative of Seoul's 25 autonomous districts, and the result bore that out. With 99.94 percent of ballots counted, Jeon took 153,317 votes — 66.4 percent of the total — against Hwang's 77,572 votes, or 33.59 percent, a margin of more than 33 percentage points.
Jeon's strong showing also gave a significant boost to People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon.
Jeon's path to the ballot was not without difficulty. The People Power Party's Seoul chapter delayed its decision on whether to hold a primary election, creating uncertainty for his campaign, before Seoul Metropolitan Council Speaker Choi Ho-jeong ultimately withdrew from contention, clearing the way for Jeon to receive the party's sole nomination.
Jeon also endured a personal loss in the final stretch of the campaign, when his father died. He returned to the campaign trail immediately after the funeral and pressed on to encourage voter turnout.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
