[Politics, That Day...] Seoul's 'Spicy Taste Voter Sentiment' Ultimate Champion in 2006, Pure Terror

Left with the worst election results in Seoul, all 122 candidates for Seoul Mayor, District Heads, and City Councilors lose
After the election defeat, the Uri Party chairman resigns... Blaming each other leads to mutual destruction

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min]

Editor's Note‘Politics, That Day...’ is a series that looks back on Korean politics through the ‘recollection of memories’ related to notable scenes, events, and figures.

Kim Tae-nyeon, Acting Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and others are leaving the party headquarters after checking the exit poll results of the April 7 by-elections at the situation room set up at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul on the 7th. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

The Democratic Party of Korea truly experienced the ‘spicy taste of voter sentiment’ in Seoul. Even those who expected the opposition to possibly take the Seoul mayoral seat were unable to easily recover from the shock. This was because the gap in vote shares between People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon and Democratic Party candidate Park Young-sun was larger than expected.

Candidate Oh Se-hoon recorded 57.5% of the vote, while Park Young-sun received 39.2%. For the Democratic Party, which had experienced consecutive victories in major elections since the 20th National Assembly election in 2016, this was a shocking result. The ‘owner of Seoul’ for the past decade had thus changed.

What makes this result even more painful for the Democratic Party is that in all 25 districts of Seoul, the ruling party candidates were outvoted by the People Power Party. So-called Democratic Party strongholds also collapsed without resistance. The Democratic Party had never experienced such a one-sided defeat in Seoul since 2010.

In the 2010 Seoul mayoral election, Democratic Party candidate Han Myeong-sook lost but won in 17 out of 25 districts, losing only in 8 districts including Gangnam. From the Democratic Party’s perspective, the 2010 Seoul mayoral election was a much better performance than this recent election.

On the 7th, the voting day for the April 7 by-elections, vote counting is underway at the counting center set up at Mapo-gu Community Sports Center in Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

So, can the Seoul mayoral by-election be called the ‘worst report card’ in the history of the Democratic Party or the ruling party? The real ‘final boss’ is elsewhere. The worst result ever experienced by a ruling party in Seoul’s election history, a terrifying election outcome unlikely to be repeated, was the May 31, 2006 4th simultaneous local elections.

At that time, the ruling party, Uri Party, fielded former Minister of Justice Kang Geum-sil as its Seoul mayoral candidate and ran candidates in all 25 district mayor elections in Seoul. They also fielded candidates in all 96 district Seoul city council elections. In total, 122 candidates ran under the Uri Party banner for Seoul mayor, district mayors, and district city council seats.

How did they perform? First, Kang Geum-sil received only 27.3% of the vote in the Seoul mayoral election and lost. The candidate from the then ruling Grand National Party who won 61.1% of the vote was Oh Se-hoon, the politician who was re-elected as Seoul mayor this time.

Although the Uri Party fielded candidates in all 25 district mayor elections in Seoul, not a single candidate was elected. The so-called Gangnam 3 districts as well as traditionally strong political bases were all won by Grand National Party candidates.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon, elected as the 38th Mayor of Seoul, is arriving at Seoul City Hall for his first day of work on the 8th. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

The truly shocking result was in the election for 96 district Seoul city council members. Both the Grand National Party and Uri Party fielded 96 candidates each. The result was clear: all Seoul city council candidates under the Grand National Party banner were ‘elected’, while all candidates under the Uri Party banner were ‘defeated’.

From the Seoul mayor to district mayors and city council members, all 122 Uri Party candidates who ran in the 2006 local elections experienced the pain of defeat.

The scenario after the election defeat was similar to now. At that time, Jeong Dong-young, the chairman who led the ruling party’s election campaign, resigned taking responsibility for the defeat. Afterwards, factional conflicts continued over the ruling party’s new leadership structure.

The Uri Party engaged in a ‘blame game’ over the causes of the election loss. Seoul voters had delivered a harsh rebuke through the election, but instead of deep reflection, internal strife intensified daily. The act of shifting political responsibility caused even traditional supporters to turn away, making it difficult for the Uri Party to avoid the path of ‘mutual destruction.’