Democratic Party of Korea leadership candidates Kim Min-seok and Jung Chung-rae listen to fellow candidate Song Yeong-gil's policy speech at a joint campaign event at Incheon Namdong Gymnasium on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Democratic Party of Korea leadership candidates Kim Min-seok and Jung Chung-rae listen to fellow candidate Song Yeong-gil's policy speech at a joint campaign event at Incheon Namdong Gymnasium on Saturday. [Yonhap]

Kim Min-seok and Jung Chung-rae are set to face off again Sunday in Gangwon Province and the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province region, known as TK, as their neck-and-neck contest for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership continues. With the cumulative vote gap sitting at less than 1 percentage point, attention is focused on whether Sunday's primary results will flip the standings.

The Democratic Party will hold joint campaign speeches as part of its regional primary tour — in Gangwon Province in the morning and in Daegu in the afternoon.

The key question of the day is whether Kim can extend his winning streak following back-to-back victories in Jeju and Incheon on Saturday, or whether Jung can mount a comeback and reclaim the overall lead.

Vote tallies from both regions' party-member ballots will be announced after the TK joint speech event in Daegu concludes.

Gangwon Province and TK together account for a relatively small share of the total party membership electorate — 2.9 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. While TK carries a 5 percent vote-weighting bonus as a strategic region, it remains unclear whether the two regions' results alone will significantly shift the overall race.

Given how narrow the gap between the two candidates is, even a small swing in vote share could be enough to change the rankings.

As of the latest tally, Kim leads with a cumulative vote share of 45.42 percent against Jung's 44.56 percent — a margin of just 0.86 percentage points.

After Sunday's events in Gangwon Province and TK, the party will hold regional primaries in the Honam region on Aug. 15 and in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province on Aug. 16.

The decisive battlegrounds are expected to be Honam and the greater Seoul metropolitan area. Party membership in those two regions accounts for roughly 70 percent of the total electorate, making them in effect the contests that will determine the party leadership race.

Candidates have accordingly been concentrating their campaigns on Honam and the metropolitan area.

The race for supreme council seats is also intensely competitive. Eight candidates are in the running, with pro-Lee faction loyalists and allies of Jung Chung-rae vying for the five seats. Through Saturday, Choi Min-hee, who is aligned with Jung, leads with a cumulative vote share of 21.03 percent. Park Seon-won follows at 16.80 percent, ahead of Han Min-su at 14.45 percent, Seo Mi-hwa at 14.12 percent and Kim Yong at 12.64 percent.

This party convention marks the first time a one-person, one-vote system has been applied. The party leader electorate is weighted 70 percent for delegates and party members and 30 percent for the general public.

During the regional primary tour, only party-member ballots are disclosed. The final winner will be determined at the party convention in Daejeon on Aug. 17, when those results are combined with delegate and general-public votes.


hanira@heraldcorp.com