Lowest-Ever Competition Rate Expected in Local Elections

\r\n[Financial News] The competition rate for the 9th local elections, set for June 3, is expected to fall to another all-time low, matching the level seen four years ago. Analysts say the decline in conservative party candidates played a role.
According to the National Election Commission (NEC) on the 16th, a provisional tally released at 8 p.m. the previous day showed that 7,664 candidates had registered for the local elections and by-elections for National Assembly seats, putting the overall average competition rate at 1.8-to-1.
That is the same as the average competition rate recorded in the 8th National Simultaneous Local Elections in 2022, making it the lowest on record.
The figure is far below the 2.32-to-1 rate in the 2014 South Korean local elections held eight years earlier, and it is nearly half of the record-high 3.2-to-1 rate seen in 2006.
In political circles, some say the reason is that, in the first nationwide election since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, approval ratings for the government and the ruling party have remained high, reducing the number of conservative opposition candidates running in unfavorable districts.
In fact, the People Power Party (PPP) struggled to recruit candidates during the nomination process for the local elections. In Honam, which is widely seen as a political stronghold for the opposition, the party had to go through several rounds of additional recruitment before fielding candidates for provincial governor posts. It also failed to put forward a candidate in one of the 14 districts holding National Assembly by-elections, namely Gunsan, Gimje, and Buan County in North Jeolla Province.
koreanbae@fnnews.com Bae Han-geul Reporter