The Democratic Party Gwangju Branch Election Commission Holds First Meeting... Primary Elections for Local Government Heads Begin

TV Debate for Basic Local Government Head Primaries Starting Next Week on the 18th in Nam-gu

50% Party Members and 50% General Citizens Participate in National Participation Primaries

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Election Commission of the Democratic Party of Korea Gwangju Metropolitan City Party has officially begun operations ahead of the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections.

The Election Commission held its first meeting on the 14th at 1 PM and commenced election management duties.

Jeon Gwang-seop, a professor in the Department of Public Administration at Honam University, was appointed as the chairman of the Election Commission, which is composed of the chairman and seven other election commissioners.

The Election Commission will oversee the entire election schedule, including candidate registration, TV debates, vote counting management, as well as the detection and sanctioning of election fraud.

Through a resolution on this day, the primary election schedule for Gwangju basic local government heads began. The Election Commission approved the announcement for the registration of primary election candidates for the 8th local elections.

After completing candidate registration over two days on the 15th and 16th, TV debates for the primary elections for basic local government heads will start with Nam-gu on the 18th and Dong-gu on the 19th.

The TV debates will be hosted by the Democratic Party of Korea Gwangju City Party and organized by CMB Gwangju Broadcasting.

Additionally, from the 17th to the 20th, candidates will be allowed to conduct election campaigns via four rounds of text message dispatches. The election campaign content submitted by the candidates will be sent out collectively by the party’s Election Commission.

For primary candidate registration, up to two career entries can be used (15 characters if one entry, 25 characters if two entries).

The Dong-gu and Nam-gu primaries will be held on the 21st and 22nd, respectively, following the TV debates and campaign period. A sample will be randomly selected from secure numbers provided by mobile carriers, and the national participation primary election will be conducted via ARS voting (50% party members with voting rights, 50% general citizens).

Jeon Gwang-seop, chairman of the Election Commission, stated, “We will do our best to ensure that the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections are conducted fairly so that diligent and competent local leaders can be selected.”