[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As the April 7 by-elections ended in a crushing defeat for the ruling party, attention is also focused on the position of Kim Eo-jun, the host of TBS News Factory, who has continuously raised issues of broadcasting unfairness from the opposition. Kim expressed concerns about the crisis facing the broadcast, suggesting that the nature of the program might need to be completely changed. In particular, the production team even joked that they were already trying to replace the host.
According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on the 8th, the results of the Seoul mayoral by-election showed that People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon won with 57.50% of the vote, overwhelmingly defeating Democratic Party candidate Park Young-sun, who received 39.18%, by a margin of 18.32 percentage points. Oh won in all 25 autonomous districts of Seoul.
Earlier, when the joint exit poll by the three major broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS) showed Oh Se-hoon leading Park Young-sun by 21.3 percentage points, Kim said of Oh, "He struggled unemployed for 10 years and has now returned after 10 years."
On April 7 by-election, O Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate who secured victory as Seoul mayor, is seen receiving a bouquet and celebrating around midnight on the 8th at the vote counting room in the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Regarding this exit poll result, he evaluated, "Although the term for the by-election (Seoul mayor) is only one year, the numbers are impactful. This means that the progressive support base did not turn out (to vote)."
He continued, "Looking at the turnout, the conservative support base rallied and increased the turnout," analyzing the Democratic Party's defeat by saying, "The Democratic Party would have been advantaged if the turnout was below 50%."
In particular, Kim said, "(With this election result) our 'News Factory' might be facing an existential crisis," adding, "If candidate number 2 (Oh Se-hoon) wins, we will have to completely change the program's color and even the corners."
Also, when Kim asked, "Is Park Kyung-joon’s campaign coming out too?" he quickly corrected himself, saying, "I meant Park Hyung-joon." He joked, "The production team outside started criticizing my pronunciation," adding, "They are already trying to get rid of me because of my poor pronunciation."
Meanwhile, according to the CEC on the 8th, in the Busan mayoral by-election, as of 1:30 a.m. with 99.92% of the votes counted, candidate Park Hyung-joon received 62.67%, overwhelmingly defeating Kim Young-chun, who received 34.42%, by nearly double the score.
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