In the June 3 local elections, 509 candidates are expected to receive certificates of election without a vote. They reached election day with their victories already confirmed due to reasons such as running unopposed or an insufficient number of candidates for the seats.
According to the National Election Commission on the 3rd, as of the 21st of last month, there were 310 constituencies with uncontested elections in this election, and 517 registered candidates in those constituencies. Based on this, 509 people were expected to be elected without a vote.
Candidates for basic local government heads expected to be elected without a vote include ▲ Gwangju Seo District Chief Kim I-kang ▲ Gwangju Nam District Chief Kim Byeong-nae ▲ Siheung Mayor Im Byeong-taek in Gyeonggi. All are members of the Democratic Party of Korea. The remaining 506 are local council members.
The election commission said, "The number of uncontested constituencies and candidates may continue to increase until election day, and the final list of those elected without a vote will be confirmed on election day."
The reason the number of candidates in uncontested constituencies differs from the expected number of winners is that, in constituencies confirmed as uncontested, the number of candidates recommended by a local party exceeded the number of seats. For example, the number of proportional representation seats for basic council members in Goheung County, Jeonnam Gwangju Special City, is two, but a single party registered three candidates. In this case, there are three candidates in the uncontested constituency, but only two are actually elected.
There are also effects from candidate withdrawals and invalid registrations. The Wonmi District Election Commission in Bucheon recently notified Park Yeon-sun, a Democratic Party of Korea proportional representation candidate for the Bucheon City Council, that her candidate registration was invalid, according to reports. Under the Public Official Election Act, heads of private kindergartens are among those restricted from running, and she remained in the position until the withdrawal deadline. However, during this process, Park's side is said to have claimed that they received a response from the election commission stating she could run while retaining the principal position.