![Kang Seok-ju, the Democratic Party of Korea's mayor-elect of Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, speaks at his campaign office in Tongyeong after his election was confirmed Thursday. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/04/rcv.YNA.20260604.PYH2026060405350005201_P1.jpg)
Amid a razor-thin margin of 0.88 percentage points in the Seoul mayoral race, the most dramatic finish among South Gyeongsang Province's local elections played out in Tongyeong.
Democratic Party of Korea candidate Kang Seok-ju defeated People Power Party candidate Cheon Yeong-gi by just 44 votes, the National Election Commission confirmed Thursday, reclaiming the mayoral seat he had lost four years earlier. The victory gives Kang a rare non-consecutive second term, bridging the seventh and ninth rounds of directly elected local governance.
The Tongyeong mayoral race had drawn wide attention from the outset as a rematch between a former and a sitting mayor.
In the 2022 local elections, Kang — then the incumbent — lost to Cheon by 1,679 votes. Four years later, the result was reversed by a margin of just 44.
The two candidates traded the lead throughout the count in an extraordinarily tight contest.
The outcome did not become clear until the early hours of Thursday, when the count surpassed 99 percent. Kang pulled ahead by 39 votes at around 2:44 a.m. Thursday, securing his election; the final margin settled at 44 votes.
"I feel not joy but a heavy sense of responsibility," Kang said after his victory was confirmed. "I will take to heart the solemn mandate contained in every single vote." He also addressed tensions that arose during the campaign, saying he sincerely apologized to citizens for causing them concern and pledging to pursue "a politics of grand unity."
The result carries broader significance as an expansion of the Democratic Party's foothold along the southern coast of South Gyeongsang Province.
The party had won just two local government chief positions in the province during the eighth round of local governance — Namhae-gun and Geoje — but this election extended that to four, adding Tongyeong, Gimhae and Namhae alongside Geoje, deepening the party's regional base.
Tongyeong has long been considered a conservative stronghold, and the Democratic Party's recapture of the city is expected to have a notable impact on the political landscape of South Gyeongsang Province going forward.
yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com
