Ahn Min-suk, the unified progressive candidate in the Gyeonggi Province education superintendent race, has all but secured victory in the 9th nationwide local elections.
According to the National Election Commission, with 76.83% of votes counted as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, Ahn had garnered 2,711,727 votes (52.38%), beating conservative candidate and incumbent Gyeonggi Education Superintendent Lim Tae-hee, who received 24,634,811 votes (47.61%), by a margin of 246,916 votes to clinch the win.
Ahn was selected as the unified progressive candidate through a process involving four contenders, including Yoo Eun-hae, Park Hyo-jin and Sung Ki-sun, before facing Lim in the main contest. Ahn pulled ahead from the early stages of vote counting and effectively passed the final hurdle to victory around 11 p.m. the previous night.
Ahn's key campaign pledges include building an artificial intelligence (AI) education system, implementing free LAS education — a holistic education model centered on Literacy, Arte (culture and arts) and Sports — securing teachers' basic political rights, and reforming the college admissions system.
In his victory remarks, Ahn said, "As a teacher, as a professor, and as a five-term lawmaker, I have waited 40 years for this moment." He pledged, "I will take the lead in driving the Lee Jae-myung administration's education reforms here in Gyeonggi Province."
