DPK: "If We Lost Seoul, Does That Mean We Lost Everything? A 72% Win Rate Is Record-Breaking"

[Financial News] The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said on the 14th that it would review the results of the June 3 local elections, while highlighting that 72% of its candidates won in an effort to ease criticism over responsibility for the outcome. It also said it would examine how the messages and actions of the Lee Jae-myung administration affected the vote.
Cho Seung-rae, the DPK's secretary-general, held a press briefing at The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea that day and said, "We will closely review and assess whether it is appropriate to say we lost everything just because we lost the Seoul Metropolitan City Mayor race." He added, "We lost the mayoral race, but we secured 17 of the 25 district chiefs. In the local elections, 3,192 people ran, and 2,294 were elected, a 72% win rate. That is record-breaking."
The DPK has faced calls to hold Jung Chung-rae's leadership accountable after defeats to the People Power Party in key races, including the Seoul and Daegu mayoral contests, the South Gyeongsang Province governor's race, the Gyeonggi Province by-election in Pyeongtaek, and the Busan Buk-gu A National Assembly by-election. Cho's remarks were widely seen as an indirect rebuttal that emphasized the party's achievements.
In particular, the party plans to assess the impact of the government's messages and actions during the election. That is because some government-led issues, such as the Semiconductor Industry Excess Profit Citizen Dividend and the Starbucks controversy, were seen as having cost the party support among moderate voters.
Cho said, "It is clear and only natural that Representative Jung and the leadership bear the greatest responsibility, but excluding other factors would make for an incomplete assessment." He added, "If you leave out how messages and actions by government officials affected public opinion, the picture is only half complete. People make decisions after looking at the government's and ruling party's messages as a whole."
However, the party said it does not intend to single out the president's public remarks or social networking service messages. Cho dismissed that line of criticism, saying, "The president's message was only to encourage people to vote."
He also addressed the president's comment to the DPK the previous day, when the president said, "Focus on the people, not the camp." Cho said, "I understand that as a remark about what kind of attitude the ruling party should have in governing the country after the local elections, rather than a criticism aimed at a specific leadership group." He added, "Narrowing it down to specific individuals is using the president for political purposes."
uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter