South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party members and lawmakers react as they watch television screens broadcasting the results of exit polls for the nationwide local elections at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 3, 2026.
SEOUL: South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party swept most seats in local elections but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat, official results showed Thursday, in a sign that voters sought to keep a check on its power.
The vote was seen as an early referendum on President Lee Jae Myung’s first year in office. He took power after months of political upheaval triggered by his conservative predecessor’s declaration of martial law.
While Lee’s party won most major races, incumbent conservative mayor Oh Se-hoon narrowly retained Seoul, defeating the Democratic Party’s rising star Chong Won-o in a close contest.
With 99.54% of ballots counted, Oh, of the People Power Party (PPP), held 49.15% of the vote, all but securing victory with Chong trailing on 48.13% and few votes left to be counted.
“This election is a victory for common sense,” Oh said, adding South Koreans “have left Seoul as the last safety net of democracy to prevent (the country) from tilting completely to one side”.
About 50% of the country’s population resides in Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area.
Analysts said the failure by Lee’s ally to flip Seoul may suggest an undercurrent of discontent with his liberal party, even though general support for the PPP has collapsed.
Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said the Seoul defeat suggested that centrist voters may have become dissatisfied with the Lee administration.
Lee said the government would “humbly accept the will of the people” and work with newly elected municipal governments regardless of political affiliation.
‘Stepping stone’
The Seoul mayoral seat draws extra scrutiny because of the capital’s outsized economic, cultural and political weight, said Byunghwan Son, director of George Mason University’s Korean Studies Center.
“Since the election of former President Lee Myung-bak, who was a highly visible Seoul mayor, the position has been widely considered a major stepping stone for future presidential hopefuls,” he told AFP.
The National Election Commission apologised after 14 Seoul polling stations ran out of ballot papers in an unprecedented mishap blamed on a failure to anticipate turnout.
Lee ordered an investigation into the ballot shortage, condemning “a flaw that is difficult to accept”.
Lee was elected president in June 2025 after six months of political turmoil triggered by his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law in December 2024 before being impeached and removed from office.
Yoon’s PPP remains divided over the episode. Its popularity has collapsed, and it suffered a crushing defeat in the local elections — a stark reversal from the landslide victory it secured four years ago.
PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok expressed his “sincere apologies” for what he described as a “disappointing” result.
Martial law
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, has benefited from Lee’s strong public standing.
It also won nine parliamentary seats in by-elections, while the PPP secured four and an independent candidate won one.
Another closely watched race was a parliamentary by-election in Busan, the country’s second-largest city, where conservative former justice minister Han Dong-hoon won as an independent.
Analysts pointed to challenges for Oh, the re-elected Seoul mayor, if he bids for the presidency.
He is “a political veteran… with name recognition few in his party can match,” Gi-Wook Shin, a sociology professor at Stanford University, told AFP.
“But he projects a sense of political fatigue, offering no fresh image and no new agenda to anchor a national candidacy.”
Lee Jae-mook, a political science professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the polls showed “public sentiment was nuanced and complex”.
“This election showed that voters sought to hold (Yoon) accountable for his martial law declaration, while at the same time preserving a mechanism to check and balance the current administration,” he told AFP.
