Seoul Superintendent of Education Conservative Candidates Fail to Unite Again... Ultimately Going Solo

Public Opinion Poll 100% Supports '3-Party Unification' Proposed by Civil Society Leaders Meeting
Jo Young-dal Declares Non-Participation, Claims "Never Delegated Authority"... Demands 50% Reflection in Debate
Park Sun-young Criticizes as "My Way, Unyielding to Own Claims"
Jo Jeon-hyeok Proposes Alternative 1:1 Unification to Jo Young-dal and Park Sun-young

Employees are working at the Comprehensive Election Situation Room of the Central Election Commission in Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 12 days before the 8th Nationwide Local Elections, which are 20 days away. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The unification of conservative and moderate candidates for Seoul Superintendent of Education has once again fallen through. Although the unification deadline was set for the 16th, when ballot printing begins, the three-way unification among Jo Jeon-hyeok, Jo Young-dal, and Park Sun-young failed. If disagreements over the unification method cannot be resolved, one-on-one unifications between candidates may be pursued, and if that also fails, a scenario where all candidates run cannot be ruled out.

On the 16th, the Civic and Social Leaders' Meeting (hereafter Leaders' Meeting) for the unification of moderate-conservative candidates in Seoul was scheduled to hold a three-way unification pledge ceremony in the afternoon, but the Jo Young-dal camp declared non-attendance. The Leaders' Meeting, after a standing committee meeting the previous day, proposed a unification method reflecting 100% of the public opinion poll results to the three candidates. They judged that the policy debate proposed by Jo Young-dal could potentially violate election laws, making it difficult to proceed. A representative from the Leaders' Meeting explained, "There was an opinion that holding a debate with only some candidates, rather than a joint debate with all candidates, could violate election laws, so we decided to halt the debate plan."

In response, candidate Jo Young-dal rejected the 100% public opinion poll unification method, stating that the Leaders' Meeting has never been delegated the authority to unify candidates. Jo Young-dal said, "The Leaders' Meeting has never been granted compulsory (coercive) unification authority from the candidates, so it should mediate while respecting the candidates' positions as much as possible," adding, "If there is a risk of violating election laws, the problematic parts should be removed, and a way found to reflect the original plan as much as possible." He further argued, "Coercive unification by a third party like the Leaders' Meeting can only be effective when voluntary unification is impossible. Since there is still room for voluntary unification, I hope the Leaders' Meeting reconsiders its role."

Candidate Park Sun-young responded by saying, "While they verbally call for unification, they are the first to rush to register as main candidates, refusing to bend, compromise, or yield even a little. This 'my way' attitude must now end."

The previous day, candidate Jo Jeon-hyeok proposed one-on-one unifications to candidates Jo Young-dal and Park Sun-young. To Jo Young-dal, he suggested unification based on 50% policy debate and 50% public opinion poll, and to Park, a unification based on 100% public opinion poll. Jo Jeon-hyeok stated that he would follow the Leaders' Meeting's proposal if Park Sun-young and Jo Young-dal agreed, but if they did not, he would proceed with a one-on-one unification with Jo Young-dal based on a 50:50 split and with Park Sun-young through a public opinion poll.

However, since the deadline is tight, Jo Jeon-hyeok plans to unify only with the candidate side that agrees to the proposed plan, making a complete conservative candidate unification unlikely. His camp said, "There is not enough time to pursue unification with both sides, so this is a proposal of an alternative plan, and we plan to unify with one side first."

In the 2018 and 2014 superintendent elections, conservative candidates' votes were split, resulting in the election of candidate Cho Hee-yeon. In the 2018 local elections, Park Sun-young received 36.2%, Jo Young-dal 17.3%, losing to Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, who garnered 46.6%.

For the upcoming June 1 local elections, there are seven candidates running for superintendent: from the conservative camp, Park Sun-young, Jo Jeon-hyeok, Jo Young-dal, and Yoon Ho-sang; from the progressive camp, Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, Kang Shin-man, and Choi Bo-seon. There is no unification discussion in the progressive camp, and Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon stated, "Artificial unification is not appropriate."