Democratic Party The
Democratic Party () was the ruling political party of South Korea following its victories in the
2017 presidential election,
2018 local elections and the
2020 National Assembly election. The Democratic Party, while technically founded in 2014, is part of a lineage of parties that originated from the conservative
1955 Democratic Party. Parties in this lineage gradually shifted their ideology over the course of decades, and the 2022 Democratic Party is considered a
big tent party comprising both
centrist and
liberal factions. Politicians in this party generally support a
social market economy with a strong
social safety net,
anti-corruption measures,
direct democracy, and
environmentalist policies. On matters of foreign policy, the party supports
reconciliation and eventual reunification with North Korea. The party is particularly strong in
Honam region. The incumbent
president at the time,
Moon Jae-in, was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits.
Primary campaign Former
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon cemented his front runner status for both the Democratic Party's nomination and the general election by his victory in the crucial district of
Jongno in the
2020 legislative election. Lee received wide support from President
Moon Jae-in's faction of the party, evinced by his landslide victory in the party leadership contest of August 2020. However, Lee's January 2021 proposal to pardon former conservative presidents
Park Geun-hye and
Lee Myung-bak faced backlash.
Gyeonggi Governor
Lee Jae Myung, who ran a left-wing populist campaign for president in
2017 while Mayor of
Seongnam, emerged as a popular alternative bolstered by a well-received response to the
COVID-19 pandemic and his proposal for a
universal basic income. Moon's second prime minister,
Chung Sye-kyun, also resigned to run for the presidency. The primary campaign saw clashes which became increasingly heated between Lee Nak-yeon and Lee Jae Myung.
Primary schedule and process The nominating primaries were scheduled to be held in September 2021, although representatives of the
Lee Nak-yon and
Chung Sye-kyun campaigns called for the primaries to be delayed to November. The calls to delay the primary are seen to be attempts to prevent frontrunner
Lee Jae Myung from getting the nomination, as he is the most preferred candidate among the public and the party. On 25 June, the party's supreme council decided to hold the primary as scheduled by 10 September. Following the completion of the nationwide primaries on 10 October 2021, Lee Jae Myung was announced as the party's candidate for president.
Primary results The votes above only count the votes cast for the four candidates who stayed in the race up to the final round of the primary and does not include votes received by Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Doo-kwan, who both dropped out midway. Before dropping out, Chung had received 23,731 votes and Kim received 4,411 votes. On 10 October, following the announcement of Lee Jae Myung's nomination, Lee Nak-yeon campaign stated they would appeal the results. A day later, the campaign submitted a formal appeal to the party. Rep.
Hong Young-pyo, co-chair of the Lee Nak-yeon campaign, said that the votes of Kim and Chung should be included in the final result, in which case Lee Jae Myung's vote share would be reduced to 49.32% and run-off would be required. However, party chairman
Song Young-gil told reporters he would reject the appeal and urged the former prime minister to concede. Song added that the specific clause of excluding votes received by withdrawn candidates from the final tally was approved during the party convention of August 2020 when Lee Nak-yeon himself was elected party chairman.
Candidate •
Lee Jae Myung,
Governor of Gyeonggi (2018–2021) and former Mayor of
Seongnam (2010–2018) (Announced bid on 1 July, won nomination on 10 October)
Other primary candidates The following individuals were candidates for the Democratic party primaries until the conclusion of the nomination process on 10 October, in sequence of announcement of candidacy: •
Lee Nak-yeon, former member of the
National Assembly (2000–2014, 2016–2021), former
Prime Minister (2017–2020), former
Governor of South Jeolla (2014–2017) and former leader of the
Democratic Party (South Korea, 2015) (2020–2021) •
Park Yong-jin, member of the National Assembly (2016–present) •
Choo Mi-ae, former
Minister of Justice (2020–2021), former member of the
National Assembly (1996–2004, 2008–2020) and former leader of the
Democratic Party (South Korea, 2015) (2016–2018) File:South Korean Prime Minister Lee - 2017 (36235112603) (cropped).jpg|
Lee Nak-yeon (announced 5 July 2021) File:박용진 의원 "이재용 부회장 대법원 판결 전 철저한 수사 선결돼야" 59s.jpg|
Park Yong-jin (announced 9 May 2021) File:Choo Mi-ae ministerial portrait.png|
Choo Mi-ae (announced 23 June 2021)
Eliminated candidates On 11 July 2021, Democratic Party (South Korea, 2015) narrowed its primary candidates down to six in the first round of the party primary. As a result, two candidates were eliminated. •
Yang Seung-jo,
Governor of South Chungcheong (2018–present), former member of the
National Assembly (2004–2018) •
Choi Moon-soon,
Governor of Gangwon Province (2011–present), former member of the
National Assembly (2008–2011) File:양승조 충남도지사.jpg|
Yang Seung-jo (announced 12 May 2021) File:최문순 강원도지사.jpg|
Choi Moon-soon (announced 1 June 2021)
Withdrawn candidates •
Lee Kwang-jae, member of the National Assembly (2004–2010, 2020–present), former
Governor of Gangwon (2010–2011)(announced 27 May 2021, withdrew on 5 July and endorsed Chung Sye-kyun) •
Chung Sye-kyun, former
Prime Minister (2020–2021), former
Speaker of the National Assembly (2016–2018), former member of the
National Assembly (2004–2020) (announced 17 June 2021, withdrew on 13 September) •
Kim Doo-kwan, member of the National Assembly (2016–present), former
Governor of South Gyeongsang (2010–2012), former
Minister of Government Administration and Home Affairs (2003) (announced candidacy 1 July 2021, withdrew on 26 September and endorsed
Lee Jae Myung) File:Portrait gray.png|
Lee Kwang-jae File:Chung Sye-kyun.jpg|
Chung Sye-kyun File:Kim_Doo-kwan_crop.jpg|
Kim Doo-kwan People Power Party The
People Power Party () is the current iteration of a long line of
Korean conservative parties that, throughout
modern Korean history, rivaled the long line of parties in the Democratic Party lineage. The party was formally established in 2020 following a merger of multiple conservative parties created in the fallout of the
2016 South Korean corruption scandal that led to the fall of conservative
president Park Geun-hye and her
Saenuri Party. In the
2017 presidential election, the
party's legal predecessor nominated
right-wing populist Hong Jun-pyo, who went on to lose the election to
liberal Moon Jae-in. The party lost further ground in the
2020 National Assembly election. However, the party has since regained ground after retaking the mayor's offices of Seoul and Busan in the
2021 South Korean by-elections. On matters of policy, politicians in this party generally support
liberal economic policies (including support for
chaebols, the industrial conglomerates that dominate the
South Korean economy) and hold conservative positions on
national security, including
hawkish stances on
North Korea. The party is particularly strong in the southeastern
Gyeongsang region. Under new party chairman
Lee Jun-seok's plans for a '
big tent' approach for the party's appeal to the electorate and desire to unify opposition forces against the Democratic Party, up to 14 individuals have declared or expressed interest in running for the PPP nomination. Another opposition candidate Ahn Cheol-soo is not a member of the PPP. Yoon led a January 2021 opinion poll as the most favored presidential candidate at 30.4 percent, over the ruling Democratic Party's
Lee Jae Myung and
Lee Nak-yeon. Yoon had expressed interest in joining the party, but had also not ruled out the possibility of creating his own party and then forging an electoral alliance with the PPP afterwards. After officially declaring his candidacy on 29 June 2021, Yoon officially joined the PPP on 30 July. At one point, former
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, a longtime prosecutor who entered politics as
Minister of Justice and later became acting
President of South Korea following
Park Geun-hye's removal from office, was briefly seen as the most likely right-wing candidate for the 2022 presidential election during a period in 2019. However, his high-profile defeat in the
2020 South Korean legislative election in the crucial
Jongno district by
Democratic 2022 presidential candidate and former
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon obliterated his standing in national polling. Representative
Hong Jun-pyo, the conservative opponent of Moon in
2017, sought the PPP nomination again for 2022, coming in a close second place. Former
National Assembly member
Yoo Seong-min, one of the most prominent conservative opponents of
Park Geun-hye and a co-founder of the
breakaway Bareun Party in 2016, announced his candidacy in May 2020.
Choi Jae-hyung, former Chairman of the
Board of Audit and Inspection, joined the party on 15 July 2021. On 26 July, Choi officially registered his candidacy with the National Election Commission. On 30 July, upon frontrunner Yoon Suk-yeol's entrance into the People Power Party, Choi personally welcomed Yoon in a small COVID-19-aware media ceremony. In August 2021, the primary campaign was marked by clashes between party chairman Lee and frontrunner Yoon. Yoon was accused of snubbing planned debates between the primary contenders mooted by Lee and the party leadership as Yoon was allegedly unprepared for debate questioning, including scandals involving his family and lacking broad knowledge on various social issues, as evidenced by gaffes made during the campaign. Yoon attacked Lee, calling him "self-righteous" while Lee hit back and said Yoon was uncooperative with the party leadership. In addition, Lee was also accused of being partial and taking sides, regarded as unbecoming of a party chairman's role. Other PPP candidates waded into the issue and criticised Yoon. Yoon was charged by the
Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on multiple charges, including abuse of power on 10 September, for allegedly prodding the PPP to lodge criminal complaints against pro-government figures ahead of the April 2020 parliamentary elections to possibly influence the polls. By this point, Yoon was no longer a stable frontrunner for the PPP nomination, instead, 2017 candidate
Hong Jun-pyo had overtaken Yoon according to several opinion polls. During the campaign, Yoon made a series of controversial statements which took a toll on his support: • Criticizing the Moon administration's 52-hour work week policy, Yoon called for more flexibility for corporate managers, saying that, for example, employees at a game development studio should be able to work up to 120 hours a week during peak season and given ample downtime when work was slow. (Currently, South Korea already has among the longest working hours among the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states) • Implying that the growing feminist movement in South Korea was a factor in the country's low birthrate • "Poor people should be allowed to choose to have inferior food to eat at lower prices", in reference to government regulations and food safety. • On Japan's Fukushima power plant, that "basically radiation leaks did not occur as the power plant itself wasn't destroyed." • In October 2021, Yoon said of former president and dictator
Chun Doo-hwan, "Many people still consider Chun as having done well in politics, except the military coup and the Gwangju Uprising," and added the claim that some people in the southwestern region of Honam, which includes Gwangju, also think that way. This comment was criticized by both the Democratic party and even within the PPP. To make matters worse, after Yoon made a reluctant apology, a photo posted on Instagram of his dog being fed an apple caused controversy. In Korean, "apology" and "apple" are homonyms and the fact that Yoon's dog was given the fruit only hours after the public apology led to criticism that Yoon was not truly sorry and dismissed the people as dogs.
Primary results Candidate •
Yoon Suk Yeol, former
Prosecutor General of South Korea (2019–2021) (announced bid on 29 June 2021, won nomination on 5 November 2021)
Other candidates The following individuals were candidates until the conclusion of the nomination process on 5 November where
Yoon Suk Yeol was announced the winner. •
Hong Jun-pyo, member of the
National Assembly (1996–1999, 2001–2012, 2020–present), former
Governor of South Gyeongsang (2012–2017), former leader of the
Grand National Party (2011) and the
Liberty Korea Party (2017–2018), and
2017 presidential nominee of the Liberty Korea Party. File:Hong Joon-pyo 20221125.jpg|
Hong Jun-pyo (announced 28 June 2021) File:강릉 산불 바른정당 유승민 동부지방산림청장 고기연 강릉시장 최명희 2017-05-07 10.23.03 (cropped).jpg|
Yoo Seong-min (announced 26 May 2020) File:Won Heeryong - 2 in 2016 (cropped).jpg|
Won Hee-ryong (announced 11 October 2020) The following 4 candidates were eliminated on 8 October. •
Ha Tae-keung, member of the National Assembly (2012–present) •
Hwang Kyo-ahn, former
Acting President (2017), former
Prime Minister (2015–2017), former
Minister of Justice (2013–2015), former leader of the Liberty Korea Party (2019–2020), and former leader of the
Future United Party (2020) •
Ahn Sang-soo, former member of the
National Assembly (1999–2000, 2015–2020), former
mayor of Incheon (2002–2010) •
Choi Jae-hyung, former judge and Chairman of the
Board of Audit and Inspection (2018–2021) (Subsequently, endorsed Hong Jun-pyo on 16 October) File:하태경.png|
Ha Tae-keung (announced 11 June 2021) File:Hwang Kyo-ahnrio.jpg|
Hwang Kyo-ahn (announced 1 July 2021) File:Jae-Hyeong Choi.jpg (cropped).jpg|
Choi Jae-hyung (announced 4 August 2021) The following candidates were eliminated by a party cut-off process on 15 September. • , former leader of the Green Social Democratic Party (announced 6 July 2021) •
Chang Sŏng-min,
2017 National Grand Unification Party presidential nominee and former member of the National Assembly (2000–2002) (announced on 15 August 2021) (announced 2 July 2021, ended campaign on 25 August) •
Kim Tae-ho, member of the National Assembly (2011–2016, 2020–present) and former Governor of South Gyeongsang (2002–2010) (announced 15 July 2021, ended campaign on 17 August)
Did not run Amid reports of a dossier detailing illegal activities of Yoon Suk Yeol and his family in late June 2021, Seoul Mayor
Oh Se-hoon, who had recently won the
April 2021 mayoral by-election, was speculated to join the primary race if Yoon dropped out. Ultimately this did not materialize. Ahn later ran as a third-party nominee with the
People Party before dropping out and endorsing Yoon Suk Yeol. •
Oh Se-hoon,
Mayor of Seoul (2021–present, 2006–2011) and former member of the National Assembly (2000–2004) File:AhnCheolSoo2022.png|
Ahn Cheol-soo Justice Party The
Justice Party () is a
centre-left,
social democratic and
progressive party that was founded in October 2012. The party has been the third largest party in the National Assembly after the
2020 election.
Candidate •
Sim Sang-jung,
2017 Justice Party presidential nominee, member of the National Assembly (2004–2008, 2012–present), and former leader of the Justice Party (2015–2017, 2019–2020) (announced 18 August 2021, nominated on 12 October)
Other primary candidates •
Lee Jeong-mi, former member of the National Assembly (2016–2020) and former leader of the Justice Party (2017–2019) (announced 23 August 2021) • Hwang Sun-sik, two-term member of the Gwacheon City Council in Gyeonggi-do. (announced 31 August 2021) • Kim Yun-gi, acting Representative of the Justice Party (announced 2 September 2021) File:Lee Jeong-mi taking a commemorative photo at the National Assembly.jpg|
Lee Jeong-mi People Party The
People Party () is a
conservative liberal,
socially conservative and
reformist party that was registered in February 2020. The party is considered a
minor or third party, as current politics is mostly dominated by the centre-left Democratic Party (South Korea, 2015) and the right-wing People Power Party. It is the most recent party founded by centrist politician Ahn Cheol-soo, a former medical doctor and software executive who ran for president in the
2012 and
2017 presidential elections and emerged at various points as a possible winning contender. In the 2017 election, Ahn emerged as a major threat to eventual winner Moon Jae-in, at one point polling nearly even with Moon before collapsing in polling and finishing behind conservative firebrand candidate
Hong Jun-pyo with approximately 21.41% of the vote. In the
2020 National Assembly election, the People Party fared poorly, winning a mere 3 seats; in comparison, Ahn's previous outfit, the identically named
People Party, won an unexpectedly large 38 seats in the
2016 National Assembly election. In the
2021 elections, Ahn ran for
Mayor of Seoul, but, in a pre-negotiated deal with the PPP, pulled out of the race after losing opinion polls to PPP candidate
Oh Se-hoon and supported Oh, who would go on to win the election. Ahn was considering a candidacy and party merger with the People Power Party. However, the negotiations between Ahn and PPP leader
Lee Jun-seok ended with hostilities on 16 August 2021. On 1 November 2021, Ahn Cheol-soo announced his candidacy in the 2022 presidential election. The People Party's Central Party Election Planning Group stated it would receive applications for other presidential candidates for two days following Ahn's announcement, but it was considered merely a formality and that Ahn would certainly be the People Party's presidential candidate. On 3 November, Ahn publicly rejected the idea of merging the candidacies of the People Party and the People Power Party. On 4 November, Ahn was chosen as the People Party nominee with 92% of the vote, and he accepted the nomination. On 3 March 2022, six days before the presidential election, Ahn dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed PPP candidate Yoon Seok-youl for president. At the time of his dropping out, Ahn was polling at around 10%.
Candidate •
Ahn Cheol-soo,
2012 independent presidential candidate,
2017 People's Party presidential nominee, leader of the
People Party (2020–), former member of the National Assembly (2013–2017), and founder of AhnLab, Inc. (nominated 4 November 2021)
Minor party candidates == Registered candidates ==