Just 79 votes apart: The tightest local election races across South Korea

Amid a razor-thin 0.88-percentage-point margin in the June 3 Seoul mayoral race, several other contests across the country were decided by less than 1 percentage point — drawing widespread attention.

According to the National Election Commission on Thursday, People Power Party candidate Lee Yong-woo won the Buyeo-gun county chief race in South Chungcheong Province by just 79 votes over Democratic Party of Korea candidate Kim Min-su.

Lee received 14,968 votes for a 40.89 percent share, while Kim tallied 14,889 votes at 40.68 percent — a margin of only 0.21 percentage points.

An equally tight contest played out in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province.

People Power Party candidate Lee Dong-seok won the Chungju mayoral race with 52,962 votes, or 50.05 percent. Democratic Party candidate Maeng Jeong-seop received 52,838 votes at 49.94 percent. The two were separated by just 124 votes — a margin of 0.11 percentage points.

Some races were decided by fewer than 200 votes.

In the Yeongwol-gun county chief race in Gangwon Province, People Power Party candidate Kim Gil-su won with 9,254 votes, or 40.52 percent. Democratic Party candidate Park Seon-gyu fell short with 9,078 votes at 39.75 percent, a gap of 176 votes.

The Bonghwa-gun county chief race in North Gyeongsang Province was also decided by roughly 200 votes.

Democratic Party candidate Choe Gi-yeong won with 8,378 votes, or 44.08 percent, defeating independent candidate Park Man-woo, who received 8,122 votes at 42.73 percent — a margin of 256 votes, or 1.35 percentage points.

The Tongyeong mayoral race in South Gyeongsang Province produced the narrowest result of all. Democratic Party candidate Kang Seok-ju and People Power Party candidate Cheon Yeong-gi were separated by just 44 votes, a margin of 0.07 percentage points. Kang received 33,626 votes at 48.97 percent, while Cheon tallied 33,582 votes at 48.90 percent.

Superintendent of education races also saw contests decided by less than 1 percentage point.

In South Gyeongsang Province, candidate Kwon Sun-gi edged out Song Yeong-gi by 6,909 votes — a margin of 0.4 percentage points. Kwon received 663,066 votes at 38.53 percent, while Song tallied 656,157 votes at 38.13 percent.

The Daejeon superintendent race was equally competitive. Candidate Oh Seok-jin won with 198,120 votes at just 27.48 percent, narrowly ahead of second-place Seong Gwang-jin, who received 193,599 votes at 26.85 percent. The two were separated by 4,521 votes, a gap of 0.63 percentage points.

In Incheon, candidate Do Seong-hun won the superintendent race with 532,849 votes at 36.35 percent, leading second-place Lee Dae-hyeong — who received 531,629 votes at 35.59 percent — by 11,220 votes, or 0.76 percentage points. Third-place candidate Lim Byeong-gu also drew a substantial share with 418,910 votes at 28.05 percent, underscoring how fiercely contested the race was.