Six Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers — Kim Ki-deok (five-term), Kim In-je (four-term), Kang Dong-gil (three-term), Im Man-gyun (three-term), Bong Yang-sun (three-term) and Lee Seung-mi (three-term) — registered as candidates for the first-half speaker post during the June 15-16 registration period.
The race for speaker of the 12th Seoul Metropolitan Council's first half will be decided through an internal Democratic Party of Korea primary.
The shift away from the long-standing convention of selecting a speaker by consensus among senior lawmakers is expected to leave significant scars within the party, regardless of the outcome.
The Democratic Party caucus at the Seoul Metropolitan Council said six lawmakers registered as candidates for the first-half speaker post during the June 15-16 registration window: Kim Ki-deok (five-term), Kim In-je (four-term), Kang Dong-gil (three-term), Im Man-gyun (three-term), Bong Yang-sun (three-term) and Lee Seung-mi (three-term).
The party will now hold a primary among its council members to select its official candidate for the 12th Seoul Metropolitan Council's first-half speaker.
Following the June 3 local elections, the Democratic Party holds 80 of the council's 118 seats, with the People Power Party holding the remaining 38 — giving the Democratic Party an overwhelming majority. Whoever wins the party primary is in effect all but certain to become council speaker.
Political observers had widely expected the race to follow the council's established convention, with five-term lawmaker Kim Ki-deok taking the first-half speakership and four-term lawmaker Kim In-je the second-half post. In practice, the Seoul Metropolitan Council has a strong tradition of valuing seniority and experience, with senior lawmakers typically leading the speaker's panel.
The dynamic shifted when three-term lawmaker Im Man-gyun called for a competitive primary. Kang Dong-gil, Bong Yang-sun and Lee Seung-mi subsequently announced their candidacies, ultimately producing a six-way race.
The primary has drawn skepticism from within and around the council. One Seoul city official said the council, as the largest metropolitan assembly in the country and a symbol of local legislative bodies, needs a political culture that respects seniority and experience.
There are also concerns that if factional and regional rivalries intensify during the primary, the fallout could weigh on the council's operations going forward.
The stakes extend well beyond a single seat. The speaker election is the starting point for determining the council's power structure for the next two years — including the allocation of deputy speaker posts, the floor leader position and standing committee chairmanships — making the competition all the more fierce.
"What matters more than the primary itself is a culture of accepting the result," a council official said. "Whoever becomes speaker, Democratic Party members must stand united and fulfill their core role of checking and cooperating with Mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration."
The outcome of the primary is expected to serve as a key test of Democratic Party Seoul council members' cohesion and the direction of the council's future operations.
Democratic Party members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council are set to hold the speaker candidate primary on June 29.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
