The Democratic Party and the Progressive Party agreed on May 15 to unify their candidates for the Ulsan mayoral election in the upcoming June 3 local elections. They plan to select a single candidate through a primary that fully reflects public opinion polls. This agreement follows the withdrawal of Hwang Myung-pil, the candidate from the Justice Reform Party, the previous day, effectively concluding the unification process among progressive candidates.
Jo Seung-rae, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, stated at a press conference held at the National Assembly, "This is a choice to increase the chances of victory, even if it is just by 1%, to revive the heart of the industrial capital of South Korea." Shin Chang-hyun, Secretary-General of the Progressive Party, added, "We have decided to join forces to eliminate the forces of insurrection in Ulsan, the heart of South Korean labor."
The two parties began negotiations for unification last month and reached an agreement after focused discussions in May. However, they acknowledged that it would be difficult to finalize the unification by the candidate registration deadline on this day, given the agreement on the primary method. Jo mentioned, "We aim to complete this before the official campaign begins." The official campaign is set to start on May 21.
Meanwhile, the unified progressive candidate will compete against Kim Du-gyeom of the People Power Party and independent candidate Park Maeng-woo. Although Kim and Park have declared a halt to their unification efforts within the conservative camp, there are discussions about the possibility of resuming those efforts given the rapidly changing situation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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