Lee's party wins local vote, but may lose Seoul mayoralty

Lee Jae Myung’s ruling Democratic Party won most of South Korea’s local elections, yet the night’s defining result came in Seoul, where Oh Se-hoon held the capital and turned a broad victory for the party into a sharper political warning. The split outcome showed a government with nationwide reach but a vulnerable grip on the country’s most symbolic city.

The June 3 vote was the first nationwide election since Lee’s snap presidential victory last year, making it an early measure of whether his momentum still extends beyond the presidency. Final results showed the Democratic Party capturing 12 of the country’s 16 metropolitan mayor and provincial governor races, while the People Power Party took four. That was a strong showing for Lee’s camp, including a notable win in Busan, the traditional conservative stronghold.

Seoul, however, told a different story. Exit polls from the three major broadcasters initially put Democratic challenger Chong Won-o ahead, but the lead narrowed as counting continued and then flipped. The National Election Commission later reported that Oh led by 30,359 votes, or 0.60 percentage points, with 97.7 percent of ballots counted. Oh’s victory gave him a fifth term as Seoul mayor, the first person in the city’s electoral history to do so.

That result matters because Seoul is more than another mayoralty. It is South Korea’s political center, a bellwether for urban sentiment and a proxy for national direction. A party can dominate provincial races and still stumble in the capital if voters in the city are uneasy about the government’s pace, style or priorities. For Lee, the outcome suggests his party remains competitive across the country but has not built an untouchable coalition, even after a strong presidential showing.

The Seoul contest was also clouded by reports that ballot papers ran out at multiple polling stations amid higher-than-expected turnout, giving the opposition room to argue that administrative problems complicated the race. Even so, the final margin underscored how tightly balanced the contest had become. For Oh, the win strengthens a veteran conservative figure who could emerge as a serious opposition presidential contender. For Lee’s party, the lesson is more sobering: broad national strength does not guarantee control of the capital, and Seoul remains the clearest test of whether presidential power is translating into durable political support.