Oh Se-hoon Selected as Best Award Winner for 'Manifesto Promise Award'

Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters Wins Top Award in Election Publicity Category
Scores Over 70 out of 100 in Seven Criteria Including Goal Specificity, Implementation Procedure Systematicity, Philosophy and Vision

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is announcing the development blueprint for the Yongsan Maintenance Depot area, titled "Yongsan International Business District Development Plan," at Seoul City Hall on the 26th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was selected as the grand prize winner in the election publicity category for metropolitan and provincial governors at the ‘2022 Manifesto (Local Election Division) Promise Awards’ conducted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters.

According to Seoul City on the 2nd, Mayor Oh was evaluated as having created the best promises to citizens and systematically and concretely included implementation plans in the election publicity materials during the local elections held on June 1st for the 8th term of direct election (the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections). The ‘Manifesto Promise Awards’ are given by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters through a full survey and evaluation of election publicity and other pledge materials to discover excellent cases of concreteness and the drafting process.

The Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters analyzed promotional materials and pledge books from the preliminary candidate period of metropolitan and basic local government heads, superintendents of education, and others who ran in the last local elections, as well as election publicity and pledge documents during candidacy, evaluating a total of seven categories to select the grand prize and excellence award winners. Mayor Oh scored over 70 points out of 100 and was named the grand prize winner.

The seven categories are ▲concreteness of goals ▲clarity of priorities ▲systematic implementation procedures ▲rationality of implementation period ▲stability of funding plans, which are five indicators under the Public Official Election Act, plus ▲philosophy and vision ▲democracy in the drafting process.

Mayor Oh focused on enhancing the clarity of election publicity and the feasibility of pledge implementation by systematically and concretely including in the election publicity materials: the challenges Seoul faces and the future vision to solve them; key pledges of the 8th term; results of pledge implementation from the 7th term; sector-specific pledges for the 8th term; and region-specific pledges for the 8th term.

Seoul City plans to accelerate policy promotion to ensure that Mayor Oh’s pledges are implemented without setbacks and to realize Seoul’s future vision as the ‘Companion and Attractive Special City Seoul.’ Through expert advice from various fields, the pledge implementation plans will be refined, and a citizen pledge evaluation group composed of citizens will be operated to polish the plans from the citizens’ perspective. Detailed pledge implementation plans will be disclosed on the city’s homepage in October.

Meanwhile, Mayor Oh also received a positive evaluation earlier this year from the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters in the ‘7th Term Nationwide Metropolitan and Provincial Governors’ Pledge Implementation and Information Disclosure Evaluation,’ where all 189 pledges were confirmed to be progressing normally. Mayor Oh said, “From the process of establishing pledges, which are promises to the great citizens of Seoul, I have intensely considered Seoul’s immediate challenges and future, striving to include both livelihood recovery measures and Seoul’s future blueprint. With pride, affection, passion, and creativity for Seoul and its citizens, I will definitely create the ‘Companion and Attractive Special City Seoul.’”