[Anchor]

In the fourth regional primary to elect the Democratic Party's new leadership, candidate Kim Min-seok took first place in the ordinary party member votes for Gangwon and Gyeongbuk, while candidate Jung Cheong-rae claimed the top spot in Daegu. The two candidates are locked in an ultra-close race, with their cumulative vote share gap standing at just over 1 percentage point.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

According to the combined ordinary party member voting results for the Gangwon, Daegu, and Gyeongbuk regional primaries announced this evening (August 9), party leader candidate Kim Min-seok ranked first with 48.54% of the vote.

Candidate Jung Cheong-rae followed in second place with 44.40%, and candidate Song Young-gil placed third with 7.06%.

However, while Kim secured first place in Gangwon and Gyeongbuk, Jung placed first in Daegu.

Combining today's results with previous ordinary party member votes from Chungcheong, Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam, Jeju, and Incheon, the margin between candidates Kim Min-seok and Jung Cheong-rae remains an ultra-close contest, standing at around 3,000 votes or a 1.5 percentage point difference.

For the supreme council member candidates, the cumulative ordinary party member voting results ranked Choi Min-hee, Park Sun-won, Han Min-su, Seo Mi-hwa, and Kim Yong from first to fifth place respectively.

Earlier during today's joint speeches, candidates Kim and Song brought up the results of the June 3 local elections to highlight the argument concerning "responsibility on Jung Cheong-rae," while candidate Jung sharpened his tone against Kim, stating, "Nobody knows who will win until it is over."

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader Candidate]: There will be no instances of losing a region due to verbal slips, nor will there be any missed regions because the central party failed to determine its stance.

[Song Young-gil / Democratic Party Leader Candidate]: (Some promote the Gangwon region's local election victory as) a victory for party leader Jung Cheong-rae, but leading the Democratic Party with this kind of mindset will make winning the general election far from easy.

[Jung Cheong-rae / Democratic Party Leader Candidate]: Nobody knows who will win until it is over. Acting as if one is already the party leader, handing out this party position to one person and that position to another.

As candidates Kim and Jung continue their neck-and-neck race, regional primaries are scheduled for next weekend in Honam, Seoul, and Gyeonggi—regions where over 60% of all ordinary party members are concentrated—which are expected to determine the ultimate outcome of the race.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video by Kang Dong-chul and Oh Young-chun | Video Editing by Yu Mi-ra)