High-Stakes By-Election for Mayor of Gangseo-gu: Impact on Public Sentiment and Political Landscape

Kim Tae-woo, former mayor of the district, comes out after the appeal trial. yunhap news
Gangseo-gu, at the western end of Seoul, is noisy. This is because of the by-election for the head of Gangseo-gu, scheduled for October 11th. The banners of the ruling and opposition parties strewn across the road add to the uproar.

The by-election for the mayor of Gangseo-gu occurred when Kim Tae-woo, former mayor of the district, lost his position as mayor due to a Supreme Court ruling in May.

Kim, former head of the district, worked as a member of the special inspection team at the Blue House during the Moon Jae-in administration, exposing internal corruption such as the former chief civil servant Cho Kuk’s suspicion of refusal to inspect. In the process, he was convicted of divulging confidential information he learned in the course of his official duties.

The reason why the by-election, which seemed to be held quietly, is suddenly attracting great attention is that it is a barometer to look into public sentiment in the metropolitan area ahead of the general election next year.

President Yoon Seok-yeol. yunhap news
For the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, it is an evaluation of state administration in the early days of the administration, and for the Democratic Party, it has a political meaning that it is an evaluation of the Lee Jae-myeong system suffering from judicial risks.

Therefore, both the ruling and opposition parties are bound to be sensitive to win or loss. This is why nominations are so important.

Gangseo-gu is traditionally a strong Democratic Party area, but the Democratic Party candidate lost to Mayor Kim Tae-woo, the power of the people, in the local elections last June. For the Democratic Party, this by-election is an opportunity to recover the real ground.

Competition for nominations is much hotter than that of the ruling party. A whopping 13 people were listed on the verification committee for preliminary verification of candidates.

However, looking at that aspect, it is so devastating that I wonder if I can give out a business card to the local residents.

Most of the candidates have previous convictions for various crimes, such as habitual drunk driving, construction fraud, gambling, and involvement in #MeToo. These are usually people who have been doing business or have been active as indigenous politicians in the region.

As a result, there was talk of strategic nominations, and in fact, people with little ties to the region jumped into the competition for nominations.

Former President Moon Jae-in giving a greeting. yunhap news
One of the causes of the downfall of the Moon Jae-in government was moral collapse. The Naero Nambul and the selective process caused national anger and led to the birth of the Yoon Seok-yeol government.

It is disrespectful to voters for the Democratic Party, which should now be rearmed with morality as an opposition party, to put forward a person involved in such a crime as a by-election candidate.

The situation of the people’s power is going to a stunned situation where the unexpected becomes a reality.

As former district chief Kim Tae-woo, who provided the cause for the by-election, was included in the list of candidates for a special pardon on Liberation Day, rumors of re-running for mayor Kim are becoming reality.

Some of the mayors of the People’s Power previously made a group statement urging the special and re-election of the by-election of the mayor of Kim.

Some members of the ruling party claim that Kim Tae-woo, former mayor of the district, is not an ordinary criminal but a public interest whistleblower and, furthermore, the first-class contributor to the inauguration of the regime.

Since he is a political scapegoat, there is no problem in re-election. There is no nonsense like this. The loss of the post of district chief Kim Tae-woo was decided by the Supreme Court.

It was born according to the values ​​of fairness, common sense, and the rule of law of the Yoon Seok-yeol government. President Yoon criticized the regime’s abuse of special pardons as undermining the legitimacy of the prosecution’s investigation during his time as prosecutor general.

Denying the ruling of the judiciary by the Yoon Seok-yeol government is violating the constitution and denying the legitimacy of the regime itself.

The judicial ruling cannot be covered up under the pretext of being a political scapegoat.

People’s Power In the party rules, there is a provision that ‘candidates may not be issued in re-elections in which elected officials of the party provided the cause’.

The fact that the party leadership is struggling with this issue itself is ignoring voters.

Giving a special pardon to the culprit and allowing him to run for office again in just three months before the ink on the judiciary’s ruling is dry is an act of ridiculing local residents.

Gangseo-gu Office Building. yunhap news
Even if the people’s strength is not to nominate a candidate at all, there should be no re-appointment of former district chief Kim Tae-woo, who received a judicial ruling.

It should be remembered that during the opposition party, he fiercely attacked the ruling Democratic Party with the theory of responsibility for the by-election.

The meaning of the judgment should not be overlooked as well, saying that the reason former Commissioner Kim exposed internal corruption was an ‘unjust purpose’ stemming from an inspection of his own corruption.

The Democratic Party, which is dominated by ex-convicts, or the people’s effort to re-apply a former district head who has received a judicial ruling is an insult to the people of Gangseo-gu.

“Are the people of Gangseo-gu so funny?” This is part of a comment written by a resident of Gangseo-gu after I reported the news of the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo-gu in a CBS current affairs pro bout.

I hope that the ruling and opposition parties do not call themselves prisoners of conscience or refer to themselves as judges of the current administration with these figures when selecting candidates for the Gangseo-gu Mayor’s by-election.
2023-08-10 08:18:00
#칼럼Are #Gangseogu #residents #funny #Peoples #Reasonable #Anger