[Anchor]

As the Democratic Party's convention race to elect a new party leader enters its second week, candidate Kim Min-seok has narrowly edged ahead of candidate Jung Chung-rae to take first place in cumulative vote shares. The contour of the race is expected to become clear this weekend following the primaries in Honam and Seoul-Gyeonggi, where the majority of rank-and-file party members are concentrated.

Our first report today (August 10) comes from reporter Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

According to the combined results of rank-and-file member votes for the Democratic Party's regional primaries in Gangwon, Daegu, and Gyeongsangbuk-do announced yesterday evening, party leader candidate Kim Min-seok ranked first with 48.54% of the vote.

Candidate Jung Chung-rae placed second with 44.40%, while candidate Song Young-gil came in third with 7.06%.

However, candidate Kim placed first in Gangwon and Gyeongsangbuk-do, while candidate Jung took first place in Daegu.

Adding yesterday's results to the previous rank-and-file member voting across Chungcheong, Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam, Jeju, and Incheon, the gap between candidates Kim Min-seok and Jung Chung-rae remains ultra-close at around 3,000 votes, or a margin of about 1.5 percentage points in vote share.

For the Supreme Council member candidates, the cumulative results of rank-and-file member voting show Choi Min-hee, Park Sun-won, Han Min-su, Seo Mi-hwa, and Kim Yong ranking first through fifth in that order.

During the joint campaign speeches held yesterday, candidates Kim and Song mentioned the results of the June 3 local elections to highlight what they called "Jung Chung-rae's responsibility," while candidate Jung sharpened his tone against candidate Kim, stating, "Nobody knows who will win until it's over."

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader Candidate : There will be no instances where a region is lost due to a slip of the tongue, nor will a region be missed because the central party failed to determine its stance.]

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

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

With candidates Kim and Jung locked in an ultra-close race, the upcoming regional primaries in Honam and the Seoul-Gyeonggi area—where over 60% of all rank-and-file members are concentrated—are expected to determine the final outcome.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Kang Dong-cheol, Oh Young-chun | Video editing: Yu Mi-ra)