Oh edges out Democratic rival in tight race to make history

Oh: 'A victory for common sense'; vows to repay citizens with results

Democratic Party sweeps 12 of 16 regional posts in landslide

Experts: voters backed Lee government while sending a warning

Preliminary turnout at 61%, second-highest for local elections

People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon speaks at his campaign office at Daewang Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Thursday, the day after the 9th nationwide local elections, as his victory became all but certain. [Yonhap]
People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon speaks at his campaign office at Daewang Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Thursday, the day after the 9th nationwide local elections, as his victory became all but certain. [Yonhap]

People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon won a dramatic fifth term as Seoul mayor in the 9th nationwide local elections held Wednesday. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea dominated the broader contest, capturing 12 of 16 regional governorships in a landslide, but the People Power Party held on in Seoul — the most fiercely contested race — as well as in Daegu, South Gyeongsang Province and parts of the Yeongnam region.

Political analysts say the outcome reflects voters choosing to empower the Lee Jae Myung government while simultaneously signaling a desire to keep it in check — a rebuke of unchecked one-party dominance and, at the same time, a stern public verdict against opposition regression.

With 97.83 percent of ballots counted as of 10 a.m. Thursday, the National Election Commission showed Oh with 48.96 percent of the vote, effectively sealing his victory. Oh had trailed Democratic Party candidate Jeong Won-o by a wide margin from the start of counting but steadily closed the gap, ultimately pulling ahead of Jeong — who finished with 48.32 percent — by roughly 30,000 votes.

Speaking at his campaign office at Daewang Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Thursday morning, Oh said, "This election is a victory for common sense," adding that "citizens have once again firmly established the democratic principle of checks and balance."

He said that during his previous term, "my administration and Seoul city officials revived the flow of housing supply that had been cut off, restored the ecology and appeal of the Han River, and filled gray urban spaces with green." He pledged to "repay citizens with even greater change and better results than in the past five years."

Oh added that he would "return to city administration immediately and resolve, one by one, the problems weighing on citizens' lives." He said he would "immediately review measures to restore the housing ladder for ordinary people suffering from soaring wolse rents and the jeonse shortage."

The Seoul mayoral race remained a nail-biter throughout the count. Jeong led by as much as 30 percentage points in the early stages, but the gap narrowed sharply after midnight. The count was also thrown into turmoil by an unprecedented shortage of ballots at polling stations in Gangnam, Songpa-gu and Dongjak-gu. The People Power Party and Oh demanded that the election commission halt the count, but counting continued without interruption.

Oh overtook Jeong in a "golden cross" at around 7:16 a.m. Thursday, seizing the lead for good. The Jeong camp, which had scheduled a press briefing for 7:30 a.m., pushed it back to 9:30 a.m. In his concession remarks, Jeong said, "I accept the citizens' choice with gravity and humility," and thanked his fellow candidates.

The Democratic Party claimed 12 of 16 regional governorships — a dramatic turnaround from the 2022 local elections, when it managed to hold only five of 17 such posts. The People Power Party secured four seats, including Seoul, Daegu, South Gyeongsang Province and its conservative stronghold of North Gyeongsang Province. Analysts say Oh's defense of Seoul carries particular symbolic weight, given that pre-election forecasts had overwhelmingly favored the ruling party.

Voters also directly elected 227 basic-unit mayors, 933 provincial assembly members including proportional representatives, 3,035 basic-unit council members and 16 education superintendents. The Democratic Party produced 17 district mayors in Seoul and swept 19 districts in Gyeonggi Province, reshaping the political map of the greater metropolitan area for the first time in four years.

Fourteen National Assembly seats were up for grabs in by-elections. The Democratic Party won nine seats, including Song Yeong-gil in Incheon's Yeonsu-gap and Lee Gwang-jae in Gyeonggi Province's Hanam-gap. The People Power Party won four, including Lee Jin-suk in Daegu's Dalseong and Yoo Eui-dong in Gyeonggi Province's Pyeongtaek-eul. Han Dong-hoon, running as an independent in Busan's Buk-gap, also won a seat in the National Assembly.

Across the political spectrum, the results are being read as a dual verdict of "support and check." The Democratic Party successfully expanded its hold on local government, riding high approval ratings for the Lee Jae Myung administration in its first year. But Oh's victory in Seoul confirmed that voters also wanted a counterweight.

Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae held a press conference at the National Assembly on Thursday, expressing deep gratitude to voters for "delivering a great victory to the Democratic Party nationwide," while acknowledging disappointment at failing to retake Seoul. He said the party would "actively support the capable Lee Jae Myung government and capable local governments to achieve national normalization and open a true era of locally driven growth where prosperity is shared."

People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog said in a statement that the party "humbly accepts the will of the people expressed through the June 3 local elections." He described the true winners as "the wise citizens," saying they had "sternly ordered the restoration of checks-and-balance politics across the board — the president, ruling and opposition parties, central and local governments, and regional and basic-level authorities."

Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said the Democratic Party "could arguably be seen as having lost the regional governorship race" by failing to win Seoul. He described the results as "a stern public warning against hardliners, regardless of whether they belong to the People Power Party or the Democratic Party." He added that the results also reflect an assessment of the Lee Jae Myung administration on issues such as the fabricated-indictment special prosecutor act and real estate policy, and suggested that President Lee, who had projected confidence until now, may also pull back.

On the by-election results, Shin said both People Power Party candidate Park Min-sik in Busan's Buk-gap and Rebuilding Korea Party candidate Cho Guk in Gyeonggi Province's Pyeongtaek-eul "have strong-man images." Factoring in Han Dong-hoon's win as an independent, he said the People Power Party "attempted to rally conservatives but managed only three by-election seats outside Daegu — a sign that it failed to read public sentiment correctly."

Preliminary turnout stood at 61.0 percent, with 27,249,586 of 44,649,908 eligible voters casting ballots. That is the second-highest turnout in the history of local elections — up 10.1 percentage points from the 50.9 percent final turnout recorded in the 8th local elections.

Opposition figures also raised questions about the election commission's responsibility for the ballot shortage. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok visited the central and Seoul election commissions in the early hours of Thursday to protest, saying he would "fight to the end alongside the people." Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said the National Assembly should "later deal strictly with whether printing fewer ballots was done according to guidelines or was a judgment call by individual regional election commissions."


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