Seoul Superintendent Election 'Primary Rules' Confirmed... Some Candidates Protest

Unification Promotion Committee Finalizes 'Primary Rules'
However, Differences Persist Within Progressive and Conservative Camps

As the Seoul Superintendent of Education by-election approaches, the progressive and conservative camps have set primary election rules for 'candidate unification,' but are experiencing difficulties.

On the morning of the 13th, officials from the National Election Commission are attaching promotional materials for the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education by-election, scheduled for October 16, to the screen doors on the platform of Chungmuro Station on Seoul Subway Line 3.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the education sector on the 13th, the progressive camp's unification organization for the Seoul Superintendent of Education by-election, the '2024 Seoul Democratic Progressive Superintendent of Education Promotion Committee' (Promotion Committee), finalized the unification rules among candidates on the same day.

The primary election will be conducted in two rounds. In the first round, the top four candidates with the most votes will be cut off through a 2-vote system per person among the Promotion Committee's participating members (Seoul residents aged 14 and older). In the second round, a public opinion poll will be conducted, and the final unified candidate will be selected by combining the first round's participant votes and the second round's poll results at a 50-50 ratio.

The candidates from the progressive camp who have expressed their intention to run include former Vice Chairman of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (Jeon-gyo-jo) Kang Shin-man, former Seoul Superintendent of Education Kwak No-hyun, Seoul National University professor Kim Kyung-beom, Chairman of the Teachers' Union Federation Kim Yong-seo, former President of Seoul Digital University Kim Jae-hong, former Seoul City Education Commissioner Ahn Seung-moon, Seoul National University Professor Emeritus Jeong Geun-sik, and former principal of Oryu Middle School Hong Je-nam, totaling eight candidates.

Among them, five progressive candidates (Kang, Kim Kyung-beom, Kim Jae-hong, Ahn, and Hong) held a press conference in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the same day to criticize the Promotion Committee. They claimed that although the eight candidates agreed to a 4-vote per person system in the first round of the primary, the Promotion Committee decided on a 2-vote per person rule.

The Promotion Committee stated, "Except for the 2-vote per person system, all eight candidates agreed to the unification rules," adding, "If the 4-vote per person system, which was not agreed upon by all candidates, is insisted upon, it could escalate into issues of advantage and disadvantage among candidates."

The conservative candidate unification organization, the 'Seoul Superintendent of Education Moderate Right-Wing Candidate Unification Integrated Countermeasures Committee' (Integration Committee), announced on the same day that it had unified the conservative candidate unification promotion organizations into the Integration Committee and agreed on the unification primary election method.

The Integration Committee plans to conduct two rounds of telephone interviews for public opinion polls from the 19th to the 21st and to nominate the highest vote-getter as the unified candidate on the 24th.

However, the camp of conservative candidate Ahn Yang-ok, former president of the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations, is expected to face difficulties as they opposed, stating, "An organization lacking representativeness has joined and is trying to support a specific candidate."