In the Democratic Party of Korea's main primary for Seoul mayor, lawmakers Park Ju-min and Chun Hyun-hee, and former Seongdong District Chief Chong Won-o advanced. Lawmaker Kim Young-bae and former Center for Military Human Rights Secretary-General Kim Hyung-nam were eliminated in the preliminary primary.
Hong Ki-won, vice chair of the Democratic Party's Central Election Management Committee, held a briefing at the central party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 24th and announced the results of the Seoul mayoral preliminary primary, which took place from the previous day through that day. The preliminary primary was conducted with 100% voting by the electoral college of dues-paying party members.
As a result of the preliminary primary, candidates Park Ju-min, Chong Won-o and Chun Hyun-hee (in ballot order) advanced to the main primary. The main primary will be held from Aug. 7 to 9. The main primary reflects 50% dues-paying party members and 50% public opinion polling. If no one wins a majority in the main primary, a runoff will be held from Aug. 17 to 19.
The three candidates who made the main primary will hold two joint debates on the 31st of this month and on the 3rd of next month.
Recently, candidate Park Ju-min and candidate Chun Hyun-hee have intensified their attacks on candidate Chong Won-o. Park is attacking Chong over receiving sponsorship for a Deutsch Motors event while serving as Seongdong District chief, and Chun noted that "Success Bus," one of Chong's signature achievements, violated relevant laws and regulations. Chong's camp is pushing back, calling it a negative strategy.
Meanwhile, Vice Chair Hong Ki-won said, "Under the party rules, we do not disclose candidate-by-candidate rankings and vote shares for the primary results," and added, "Please be careful to prevent acts of abusing the disclosure principle, such as each candidate's camp predicting candidate-by-candidate vote shares and rankings via text messages or on social media after the announcement of the primary results, thereby distorting the rankings." Hong also emphasized, "To prevent excessive negativity or overheated competition during the campaign, we ask all candidates and related officials to focus on sound policy competition."