[Political Lens] Ruling Party Convention: Will Second-Week Votes Shift the Supreme Council Race?

"Another Close Week"… Kim and Song Target Honam, Jeong Focuses on the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Fierce Battle for Supreme Council's Top Spot and Fifth Place

With just one day left until the second week of the Democratic Party's August 17 National Convention touring primary, attention is focused on whether candidates Jung Chungrae and Kim Minseok—currently neck-and-neck with a razor-thin margin of 0.99 percentage points—will be able to switch their ranking or widen the gap. In the Supreme Council member election, attention is also on whether there will be a shake-up among the top five candidates expected to win, as candidate Im Mi-ae, who is based in the TK (Daegu·Gyeongbuk) region, is anticipated to perform strongly.

(Cheongju=Yonhap News) Reporter Donghae Lee = Kim Minseok (from left), Jung Chungrae, and Song Younggil, candidates for the Democratic Party leadership, shake hands and greet each other at the joint speech meeting for the party leader and supreme council member touring election held at the CJB Media Center in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on August 1, 2026. Photo by Donghae Lee

◆ "This week, the competition remains fierce"... Kim & Song focus on Honam·Jung stakes on Seoul Capital Area = On August 7, each party leader candidate is carrying out schedules in the Honam region. While this week's primary regions have a relatively small number of party members, about 70% of the total voting party members are concentrated in the Honam and Seoul Capital Area, which are seen as the decisive battlegrounds. This week's tour is taking place in the following order: Jeju, Incheon, Gangwon, Daegu·Gyeongbuk.

Jung and Kim's camps expect the race to remain tight this week as well. Many believe that either Song Younggil—who represents Incheon—or the pro-Lee Jae-myung candidate Kim will perform well in Incheon, but the prevailing view is that the trend from the first week will likely continue.

Candidate Kim said the previous day, "If I can tie in Jeju, Gangwon, Incheon, Daegu, and Gyeongbuk, I believe I'll ultimately win. I plan to secure over 50% in Honam, determine the outcome there, and then head to the capital region." In the first week, Kim had projected a win in the final round if the loss margin was under 7 percentage points; now, he is aiming for a draw this week and gradually shifting the momentum in his favor.

By contrast, candidate Jung is confident of securing a victory in the capital region. On August 5, Jung stated, "The area with the most voters is actually the capital region, and I'm currently ahead there. I expect to win big in the capital region again this week." Reflecting this confidence, Jung has been traveling between Seoul and Honam this week, unlike Kim and Song, who have devoted themselves primarily to Honam.

Candidate Song is aiming for a reversal in the Honam region. He believes that if he climbs up to second place in Honam, the preferential voting system would put him in the strongest position to win in the second-preference ballot, leading to an overall victory.

◆ Fierce battle for the top and fifth spots in the Supreme Council election = As of now, the top five in contention for election are Choi Minhee in first place (22.58%), followed by Park Seonwon (16.41%), Han Minsu (14.46%), Seo Mihwa (13.72%), and Kim Yong (12.41%). They are followed by Lee Sungyoon (11.34%), Im Mi-ae (5.73%), and Kim Youngho (3.35%).

This week, candidate Im, from the TK region, is expected to perform strongly, making the competition for the fifth spot especially fierce. Supporters of the pro-Jung Chungrae faction note that Lee Sungyoon, whose electoral district is in North Jeolla Province, may be able to climb into the top five in the Honam regional primary.

The Kim Minseok camp is also stepping up efforts to check the frontrunner Choi Minhee for the senior Supreme Council position. There is speculation that after this week, Kim Minseok may align himself with Park Seonwon, Seo Mihwa, and Kim Yong in a strategy of "choice and concentration."

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