No Surprise in Tongyeong Mayoral Election ... Kang Sukjoo Wins by 38 Votes, Down from 44

A recount for the Gyeongnam Tongyeong mayoral race in the 9th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections, which was decided by a margin of 44 votes, was conducted overnight, but the results remained unchanged.

The Gyeongnam Election Commission held the Tongyeong mayoral election recount from the afternoon of the 27th until early morning on the 28th in the main conference room on the 6th floor of its headquarters.

A recount for the 9th Nationwide Local Elections Tongyeong mayoral election in Gyeongnam is underway at the 6th-floor conference room of the Gyeongnam Election Commission.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

After the commission rechecked 69,693 ballots, it tallied 33,626 votes for the incumbent mayor Kang Sukjoo of the Democratic Party of Korea, and 33,588 votes for former mayor Cheon Younggi of the People Power Party.

Among the 1,030 previously invalidated ballots, six were recognized as valid votes for former mayor Cheon, narrowing the margin between the two candidates to 38 votes, but the winner did not change.

Previously, three candidates ran in the Tongyeong mayoral election, and out of a total of 69,693 ballots, Democratic Party candidate Kang received 33,626 votes, People Power Party candidate Cheon received 33,582 votes, and independent candidate Park Cheongjeong received 1,455 votes, resulting in Kang's victory.

A recount for the 9th simultaneous local elections for the Tongyeong mayoral election in Gyeongnam is being conducted by hand counting in the large conference room on the 6th floor of the Gyeongnam Election Commission.
Photo by Lee Seryung

Present at the recount were former Tongyeong mayor Cheon Younggi, who filed the appeal, representatives of the Tongyeong Election Commission (the respondent), and legal representatives and observers for incumbent mayor Kang Sukjoo (the winner).

The observers for former mayor Cheon's side included Jeon Hangil, former Korean history instructor, and Lee Youngdon, KBS producer.

The recount officially began at around 3:32 p.m. on the 27th, following a series of objections related to the lack of CCTV in the ballot storage area, changes to voter information disclosed immediately after the polls closed, concerns over the sealing of ballot boxes, and requests for video recording of the recount process.

Further objections during the recount process—on issues such as whether the official seal was properly stamped on the ballots, whether ink from the stamp bled through to the back, and whether official marking tools were used—slowed the recount, which was only completed in the early hours of the 28th.

Former Tongyeong mayor Cheon Younggi (fourth from left) and former Korean history lecturer Jeon Hangil are observing the recount of the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections for Tongyeong mayor at the 6th-floor conference room of the Gyeongnam Election Commission, taking photos of the ballots with their mobile phones.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

Over 330 police officers, including those from Changwon Jungbu Police Station and the Gyeongnam Police Agency riot squad, were deployed inside and outside the Gyeongnam Election Commission to secure the recount site.

At the time the local election ended, former mayor Cheon filed an election appeal to invalidate the results, claiming there were errors in the ballot sorting system itself and mistakes in the criteria used during the counting and inspection processes.

Based on the results of this recount, the provincial election commission will decide by August 18 whether to uphold former mayor Cheon's election appeal.

The entire cost of the recount, amounting to 19,223,000 won, will be borne by former mayor Cheon Younggi, who filed the appeal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.