Choi Seonghwan, Candidate for President of NongHyup Central Association, Withdraws

Among the candidates for the 25th NongHyup Central Association President election, Choi Seonghwan, head of the Bukyeong Horticultural NongHyup Cooperative, withdrew on the 22nd.

NongHyup Central Association

The Central Election Commission announced Choi's withdrawal on the same day. With Choi's withdrawal, the number of candidates decreased to seven. Additionally, among the originally registered eight candidates, half?four?were cooperative heads from the Busan and Gyeongnam regions, but with Choi's withdrawal, the number of cooperative heads from Busan and Gyeongnam is now three.

The election will be held on the 25th at the NongHyup Central Association auditorium in Jung-gu. Although the NongHyup Central Association President serves a single four-year term in a part-time position, they represent 2.06 million NongHyup members and influence personnel and overall business operations, which is why they are often called the "Farmers' President." The election is conducted by direct vote involving all cooperative heads for the first time in 17 years since 2007. Additionally, a "weighted voting right" system has been introduced, where cooperatives with fewer than 3,000 members have one vote each, and those with 3,000 or more members have two votes each. Accordingly, there are 1,111 cooperatives, but 141 have more than 3,000 members, making the total number of votes 1,252.