Kim Tae-woo's Shocking Defeat, People Power Party... Kim Ki-hyun's Responsibility Debate Ignites

Regime Responsibility Effective... "Government and Ruling Party Must Innovate"
"Kim Gi-hyeon Leadership Cannot Supplement Yoon's Approval Rating"

In the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo District in Seoul, the opposition party raised the 'regime judgment theory,' while the ruling party emphasized 'regional development theory,' but the ruling party was defeated by a large margin. Especially since this election was regarded as a precursor to next year's general election, it is expected that the leadership of Kim Gi-hyeon will inevitably suffer a blow.

In the Gangseo District mayoral by-election held on the 11th, Kim Tae-woo, the candidate from the People Power Party, received 39.37% (95,492 votes), losing by 17.15 percentage points to Jin Gyo-hoon, the candidate from the Democratic Party, who received 56.52% (137,065 votes).

Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 12th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Lee Jun-seok, former leader of the People Power Party, who had predicted an '18%p difference leading to the ruling party's defeat,' evaluated that the party assets built through consecutive victories in the presidential and local elections following the Seoul by-election have been reset.

On the 12th, Lee posted on his Facebook, "Today's result hardly changed from the 17.87% gap in the combined vote share in Gangseo District during the 21st general election," and criticized, "Even though we experienced the way to win in between, those blinded by selfish interests have denied it."

Regarding the cause of the election defeat, there is an analysis that the regime judgment theory worked effectively. Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' on the 12th and said, "The president bears considerable responsibility for this election," adding, "In short, this is President Yoon Seok-yeol's defeat, and the issue now is how our government and ruling party will bring about change and innovation."

Yoo emphasized that although Gangseo District is indeed a weak area for the People Power Party, in the last local election, candidate Kim Tae-woo led the then Democratic Party candidate by 2.61 percentage points. He said, "In the presidential election, (President Yoon Seok-yeol) lost by 2.2%, but in the local election, (Kim) won by 2.6%. The fact that this gap widened to 17% confirms the public sentiment."

Kim Tae-woo, the People Power Party candidate for the Gangseo District Mayor by-election, is looking at the voting status chart at the election office in Magok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the evening of the 11th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Cheon Ha-ram, the People Power Party's Suncheon Gap district committee chairman, said on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 12th, "When we won the last local election, the support base had expanded significantly, including not only traditional conservative supporters and the elderly but also young generations, swing voters disappointed with the Democratic Party's unfairness, and relatively moderate conservatives. Going through the Kim Jong-in and Lee Jun-seok regimes, people thought the party would change and become one that young generations could relate to, but these people were disappointed and left in large numbers."

Responsibility for Kim Gi-hyeon's leadership is also being raised. Cheon said, "In fact, the president's approval rating almost directly followed, but there was no party leadership to complement him or play a plus-alpha role," adding, "Because the leadership that could show we have a better future vision than the Democratic Party and act as a plus-alpha did not exist, most of the election alliances collapsed."

He continued, "The candidate Kim Tae-woo, who caused the by-election, now highlights the arrogance of the current government and ruling party," and pointed out, "Although Kim Tae-woo was controversial, he had high name recognition, and Jin Gyo-hoon was a newcomer. Considering this, the candidate variable was not that significant in the current situation."