The outcome of Ulsan's local district head races in the 9th nationwide local elections was ultimately decided by the unification effect within the democratic-progressive camp and a last-minute conservative consolidation. While the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party moved early to field unified candidates, the anticipated momentum failed to materialize. Conservative voters, by contrast, turned out actively on election day, throwing their weight behind the People Power Party (PPP).
According to the National Election Commission's vote count released Wednesday, the winners were PPP candidate Kim Young-gil in Jung-gu, PPP candidate Lim Hyun-cheol in Nam-gu, PPP candidate Cheon Ki-ok in Dong-gu, Democratic Party candidate Lee Dong-kwon in Buk-gu, and PPP candidate Lee Soon-geol in Ulju County. Of the five seats, the PPP took four and the Democratic Party one.
The Democratic Party and the Progressive Party, which had pinned their hopes on candidate unification, selected Democratic Party candidate Kim Si-wook as the unified Ulju County candidate through a polling-based primary held May 19-20. Kim appeared to seize the upper hand in the polls, at one point leading PPP candidate Lee by well over 10 percentage points. In Dong-gu, the parties had unified earlier in mid-May behind Progressive Party candidate Park Mun-ok, who at one point led PPP candidate Cheon by more than 30 percentage points in polls, making his election appear all but certain.
But once the ballot boxes were opened, the results in both districts diverged from expectations. In Ulju County, PPP candidate Lee took the lead from the early stages of the count and never relinquished first place, ultimately winning the seat. In Dong-gu, Park led PPP candidate Cheon by a wide margin in the initial count, but as the early voting boxes were followed by election-day boxes, the gap steadily narrowed until he lost the district head post.
Analysts say the candidate unification effect fell short of expectations.
"There is regret that even after selecting candidates through unification, we failed to push the campaign forward as 'one team' within a single overall current," a Democratic Party official said.
The PPP, meanwhile, had faced significant concerns about vote dispersion, as internal strife during the party primary process drove some district head and metropolitan council candidates to leave for independent bids or third-bloc parties. In the end, however, voters sided with the party.
Tension ran high as the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party held a wide lead during the early voting box count, but the mood reversed as conservative votes poured out of the election-day boxes, flipping the results.
"It seems that watching those who left the party actually prompted voters to throw their support behind us," a PPP official said.
Separately, Democratic Party candidate Kim Sang-wook won the Ulsan mayoral race, and progressive-leaning candidate Cho Yong-sik was elected Ulsan superintendent of education. In the parliamentary by-election for Ulsan's Nam-gu A district, held alongside the local elections, PPP candidate Kim Tae-kyu was elected.
