Cho Seung-rae, secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Party, said a multilayered interpretation is needed regarding assessments that the party lost the June 3 local elections, stating that "we achieved a record-breaking victory in the basic-level municipal head races."
At a press briefing held at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Cho said, "People often say 'we lost because Seoul lost, and the Honam region was too disorderly,' and that is correct." But he added, "In this entire local election, 3,192 candidates ran and 2,292 were elected, recording a record-breaking win rate of around 72 percent. These things should also be assessed."
His point was that while disappointing results were obtained in some areas, including the Seoul mayoral race, clear victories such as those for basic-level municipal heads should also be evaluated. "We lost the Seoul mayoral election, but the 25 district chiefs were completely reversed compared to 2022 (when the People Power Party held many of them)," he said. "We need an assessment based on data that goes beyond what is simply shown on the surface."
The Democratic Party has begun work to conduct an assessment related to this local election. "We have established the June 3 By-election Review Committee and appointed Lee Jae-young and Hong Chang-min as co-chairs," Cho said. "The members are also being assembled and the process is nearly complete."
He said, "The assessment work means evaluating the party's internal preparation process, such as the activities of the local election planning team, the composition and operation of the nomination management committee bodies, and the overall process of primary management and campaigns." He added, "Beyond that, we must also assess the candidates' camp campaign strategies and how the messaging and conduct of government figures during the election process affected public opinion."
