After the joint exit poll by the three terrestrial broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS) and the JTBC projection for the 9th nationwide local elections was released, the mood at People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon's campaign office sank sharply.
According to the joint exit poll by the Broadcasters' Joint Prediction Committee (KEP), formed by the three terrestrial broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS), on the 3rd, candidate Oh came in at 46.0%, trailing Democratic Party of Korea candidate Chong Won-o at 51.4% by about 5.4 percentage points.
Around 5 p.m., before the exit poll release, People Power Party lawmakers Park Su-min, Kim Jae-seop, and Cho Eun-hee, who serve as co-chairs of Oh's campaign, as well as campaign Spokesperson Kim Byung-min and General Director Kim Sun-dong, appeared at the camp.
At the campaign office, where tension was running high just before the exit poll release, the atmosphere dropped sharply with sighs as the results were announced. In particular, within 30 minutes of the exit poll announcement, about half of the seats prepared in the office were empty.
When the exit poll showed candidate Chong leading with 51.4%, Kim Sun-dong, the general director of Oh's campaign office, watched the broadcast screen and shook his head.
After the subsequent result showed Oh trailing at 46%, some in the camp reacted with laments such as "The party's internal split has become a reality" and "It's because of Jang Dong-hyeok."
People Power Party lawmakers serving as co-chairs, seated in the front row that day, mostly watched the broadcast screen with tense expressions, keeping their words to a minimum.
Regarding the voting suspension incident that occurred that afternoon, one camp official also said, "In Songpa, voting was suspended—it was an organized fraudulent election." About 30 minutes after the exit poll results were announced, key campaign officials such as Spokesperson Kim Byung-min and lawmakers Cho and Park left their seats.