Independent candidate Roh Kwan-kyu is firmly maintaining his lead over the Democratic Party candidate, albeit within the margin of error, in successive polls for the Suncheon mayoral race in South Jeolla Province ahead of the June 3 local elections. As polls increasingly confirm a hardening of voter preferences, Roh has widened his gap in "election probability" and is also leading among likely voters, dominating the early stages of the campaign.
According to a Suncheon mayoral suitability survey conducted by Zoa C&I on May 9-10 commissioned by Straight News, of 503 men and women aged 18 and over residing in Suncheon, independent candidate Roh Kwan-kyu garnered 42.1%, the results showed on Tuesday. He was followed by the Democratic Party's Son Hoon-mo at 37.4% and the Progressive Party's Lee Sung-soo at 12.5%. Other candidates received 1.0%, with 3.3% selecting none and 3.7% undecided.
Straight News also conducted a survey on April 25-26. Compared with those results, Roh rose 1.4 percentage points from 40.7% to 42.1%, while Son fell 1.3 percentage points from 38.7% to 37.4%.
Analysts attribute the shift to a combination of factors weighing on the Democratic camp, including a shocking remark by local Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Moon-soo that "civil servants are lackeys," along with media reports about Son Hoon-mo, who had branded himself a "human rights lawyer," concerning allegations of accepting money and his history of defending multiple sex crime cases — including one in which the victim was a woman from the Suncheon area. These developments are said to be heightening fatigue among Suncheon residents, while bringing the "personal credentials" argument for incumbent Mayor Roh Kwan-kyu more sharply into focus.
In particular, when asked about election probability, Roh stood at 46.2% and Son at 36.8%, widening the gap further.
In candidate suitability by voting intention, among likely voters Roh stood at 43.0% versus Son at 39.1%. Asked about their intention to vote in the local election, 90.4% said they "will definitely vote" and 6.5% said they "will likely vote," for a combined turnout intention of 96.9%.
This survey was conducted by Zoa C&I on commission from Straight News over two days from May 9-10, 2026, targeting men and women aged 18 and over residing in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, using ARS polling (100% mobile phone virtual numbers, with proportional random sampling by gender, age group, and region). The sample size was 503 (out of 4,896 total call attempts, a response rate of 10.3%), with a margin of error of ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Earlier, in a survey jointly commissioned by BBS Gwangju Buddhist Broadcasting and Namdo Ilbo on May 10, suitability for the next Suncheon mayor stood at 40.2% for Roh Kwan-kyu and 37.2% for Son Hoon-mo. In this poll as well, Roh led in election probability with 45.5%, ahead of Son's 39.1%, widening the gap further.
In addition, 83.8% of respondents said they "will continue to support their chosen candidate until election day," underscoring the hardening of voter preferences.
This survey was jointly commissioned by BBS Gwangju Buddhist Broadcasting and Namdo Ilbo to polling specialist Korea Information Research, and was conducted over two days from May 8-9 targeting 523 men and women aged 18 and over residing in Suncheon, using a 100% wireless virtual-number ARS method. The response rate was 11.2%, with a margin of error of ±4.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Further details on each poll can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
