Seoul's 9.86 million voters backed Mayor-elect Oh Se-hoon in the mayoral race, but in district chief elections they threw their support behind the Democratic Party of Korea rather than the People Power Party. Analysts say the split-ticket voting—choosing different parties for the mayoral and district chief races—reflected a desire for checks and balances.
According to vote-counting results from the National Election Commission on the 4th, Democratic Party candidates won in 17 of Seoul's 25 autonomous districts, well over half. People Power Party district chief candidates won eight seats. Compared with 2022, when the People Power Party swept 17 district chief posts, the result represents a complete reversal in four years. In the city council election, the Democratic Party also dominated the People Power Party, capturing two-thirds of the seats.
In the district chief elections, the People Power Party won a total of 2.43 million votes, trailing the Democratic Party's 2.67 million votes by 240,000. But Mayor-elect Oh secured 2.56 million votes in the mayoral race, leading Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Jung Won-oh, who garnered 2.5 million votes, by 60,000 votes. In effect, Oh's "personal appeal" lifted the People Power Party by about 300,000 votes, overcoming the disadvantage confirmed in the district chief races.
By district, Oh led Jung in a total of 10 autonomous districts. These included the four Gangnam-area districts with strong conservative leanings—Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa and Gangdong—as well as Jung-gu, Yongsan-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Yangcheon-gu, Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu. Among these, Yeongdeungpo-gu and Dongjak-gu were districts where Democratic Party district chief candidates won. This represented a textbook case of split-ticket voting, in which voters chose the Democratic Party for district chief while casting their mayoral ballots for Oh.
Political observers interpret the outcome as a pronounced tendency among voters to choose Oh, who offered stability backed by an incumbent's premium, in the mayoral race, while opting for ruling party candidates in the neighborhood elections closely tied to daily life, hoping for the benefits of the ruling party premium. A political source interpreted the result, saying, "In the mayoral race, voters chose the 'checks theory' against the government and ruling party, while in the district chief races they chose the 'stability theory.'"
However, with the power balance of Seoul's district chiefs tilting toward the Democratic Party, this is expected to weigh on Oh as he heads into his unprecedented fifth elected term. To successfully implement the pledges he put forward during the campaign, including the Shintong Planning 2.0 initiative, cooperation from the Democratic Party-controlled city council and each autonomous district will be essential.
