[Anchor]
The Democratic Party will elect its next party leader the day after tomorrow (the 17th). The results of the Honam regional primary, considered the ultimate battleground, were just released, and candidate Kim Min-seok secured a landslide victory.
Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon is live at the scene. Go, it has been a neck-and-neck race so far, but the vote gap widened significantly today.
[Reporter]
The results of the ordinary party member voting for the Democratic Party's national convention regional primaries in Jeonnam-Gwangju and Jeonbuk were announced just moments ago.
Party leader candidate Kim Min-seok took first place with approximately 139,000 votes.
Candidate Jung Cheong-rae came in second with about 79,000 votes, and candidate Song Young-gil placed third with roughly 23,000 votes.
Until just before this, first-place candidate Kim Min-seok was ahead of second-place candidate Jung Cheong-rae by a margin of about 3,000 votes. However, following today's Honam regional primary, the cumulative vote gap expanded dramatically to roughly 63,000 votes.
The cumulative vote shares stand at 52.21 percent for candidate Kim and 38.14 percent for candidate Jung, widening the gap to about 14 percentage points.
However, these figures do not reflect the 5 percent weight given exclusively to votes from Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Gyeongsangnam-do.
Analysts suggest that candidate Kim's landslide victory in Honam was driven by expectations surrounding the push for a Honam semiconductor base under the government's "three major mega projects" and the judgment of Honam party members regarding who is closer to President Lee Jae-myung.
During today's joint speeches, candidate Song emphasized his Honam roots, while candidate Kim targeted People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook, who has faced criticism for hosting a seminar disparaging the May 18 Democratic Uprising.
Candidate Jung promised a powerful drive for reform.
[Song Young-gil / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : "While a Honam son-in-law (Jung Cheong-rae) is nice, shouldn't you give strength to your own son? The son of Honam has returned, everyone."] br>
[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : "We will not allow a female Chun Doo-hwan or a female Hitler to gain a foothold in the Republic of Korea."] br>
[Jung Cheong-rae / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : "Please join hands with Jung Cheong-rae, a party leader for powerful reforms."] br>
In the Supreme Council race to elect five members, cumulative results from today's ordinary member voting show candidates Park Sun-won, Choi Min-hee, Seo Mi-hwa, Kim Yong, and Han Min-su ranking first through fifth respectively, putting them within the winning zone for now.
The lineup consists of three pro-Lee Jae-myung figures and two pro-Jung Cheong-rae figures.
After holding regional primaries in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province tomorrow, the Democratic Party will combine these results with public opinion poll findings at the national convention the day after tomorrow to elect its next party leader.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Go Jeong-hyeon | Video by Bae Moon-san | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin)
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