The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to hold a large-scale, nationwide convention of nominees. This is the first time the Democratic Party of Korea will hold a nationwide nominees' convention at the central party level. Until now, nominees' conventions were mostly held only by city and provincial party chapters, or not held at all.
According to the political sphere on the 16th, the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing a plan to hold a nominees' convention for the June 3 local elections at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on May 7. At the convention, the party's leadership, including the party leader and the floor leader, is expected to turn out in full to deliver messages for election victory and to run programs to strengthen solidarity among candidates.
A Democratic Party of Korea official said, "There is also talk of having all nominees attend, from metropolitan and basic government head candidates to metropolitan and basic council nominees." In the 2022 local elections, the Democratic Party of Korea had a total of 2,763 nominees. If the number of nominees is similar this time, the convention could become a large-scale event bringing together close to 3,000 people.
In political circles, with the Democratic Party of Korea expected to have the upper hand in the elections, the convention is seen as an effort to "build momentum." A political insider said, "Many expect the Democratic Party of Korea to win everywhere except for just one or two metropolitan government head posts," adding, "It seems the Democratic Party of Korea wants to hold a nominees' convention to 'lock it in.'"
So far, the Democratic Party of Korea has completed nominations in 14 of the 16 metropolitan government head races. The party will announce the runoff results for the Sejong mayoral candidate this afternoon, and will wrap up metropolitan government head nominations with the runoff results for the Jeju governor on the 18th. Nominations for basic government heads and metropolitan and basic council members by each city and provincial party chapter will also be completed within this month.