The Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeongnam provincial election management committee announced primary results for seven local government head races on Tuesday, including Changwon, Gimhae, Jinju, Sacheon, Miryang, Namhae, and Hamyang.
Song Sun-ho won more than half the votes to secure the party's nomination for Changwon mayor. Other candidates in the Changwon mayoral primary included Kim Gi-wun, former Changwon Uichang district committee chair; Kim Myeong-yong, a law professor at National Changwon University; and Lee Ok-seon, a former Gyeongnam provincial council member. Song will face People Power Party candidate Kang Gi-yun in the general election.
Jeong Yeong-du, a former Blue House secretary during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, was confirmed as the party's Gimhae mayoral candidate. For Namhae county chief, provincial council member Ryu Gyeong-wan defeated incumbent Jang Chung-nam to win the nomination. Seo Pil-sang was confirmed as the Hamyang county chief candidate. Gal Sang-don was confirmed as the Jinju mayoral candidate.
In Miryang and Sacheon, where multi-candidate primaries were held, no candidate won a majority, triggering runoff votes. Lee Ju-ok, a former Miryang city council member, and Jeong Mu-gwon, a current Miryang city council member, will compete for the Miryang mayoral nomination. Jeong Guk-jeong, a provincial party vice chair, and Choi Sang-hwa, a former Blue House press center chief, will contest the Sacheon mayoral nomination. The runoff votes will be held on May 11-12.
For the Yangsan mayoral nomination, a preliminary round was held among eight applicants to select four candidates for the main primary. Kim Il-gwon, former Yangsan mayor; Park Dae-jo, a special appointment professor at Inje University; Jo Mun-gwan, vice director of the Democratic Research Institute; and Choi Seon-ho, a Yangsan city council member, will compete in the main primary on May 11-12.
The Democratic Party combined votes from party members and public primary voters using secure phone numbers on May 4-5, confirming the first-place finisher who surpassed the majority threshold as the final candidate.
"The primary was a competition, but our goal is one," said Heo Seong-mu, chair of the Democratic Party's Gyeongnam provincial chapter. "We will win in Gyeongnam as one team to restore livelihoods that have crumbled and achieve balanced national development."