Leaders Gain Support as Elections Near

At 4:00 p.m. on May 19 at a city hall in Yeongnam area, high-level public servants, including chiefs and directors, gathered in the lobby of the building. They wanted to meet the incumbent mayor, who found time amid his busy campaigning schedule to stop by. They had to head back to their offices disappointed though, when the mayor changed his plans and did not show up.

As the May 31 local elections approach, civil servants are doing their best to show support for the most likely candidate to win. Many civil servants say that after experiencing two local elections and the power to implement personnel management given to the mayors, they have learned that showing support to the right candidates makes for a comfortable four years.

Tact, insurance, and tact-

In Naju City of South Jeolla Province, where the incumbent and former mayor are facing each other, among public servants, there are already rumors that if a certain candidate is elected, he or she will promote and demote at least 300 workers, and that the chief of secretary and the chief of personnel management have already been secretly selected. Civil servant A said, “It is not easy to actively support a certain candidate, because there are relationships at stake. Still, there is much confusion because of rumors related to the candidates and many find it hard to focus on their work.

In Geumjeong-gu and Dongnae-gu of Busan City, where incumbent mayors are running as independent candidates after failing to receive public nomination from the Grand National Party, the civil servants are split on whom they support. Public servant B said, “Executives cannot ignore either one of the candidates: the current mayor who is running as independent, and a candidate who has received public nomination from the most popular party. The civil servants are having trouble deciding whom to support.”

In North Jeolla Province, where the incumbent provincial governor has decided not to run for another term, executives are trying to determine the connections of the candidate most likely to win. There are rumors that executives have been spotted participating in private meetings of election campaign teams. Civil servant C, who is in an executive position, said, “I was shocked when the campaign camp of the candidate most likely to win told me to watch my mouth. It shows that what we say is being reported to their camp word by word.”

In Daejeon, where the Grand National Party is on the rise, many public servants are having it both ways. When the Uri Party candidate Yeom Hong-chul’s support ratings were 20 percent higher than Grand National Party’s candidate Park Seong-hyo, public servants sided with Candidate Yeom. Recently when Candidate Park caught up with Candidate Yeom, the public servants started paying more attention to Candidate Park.

Cases of civil servants caught breaking the National Civil Servant Law and entering political parties continue. Civil servants of Iksan City and Gunsan City of North Jeolla Province were investigated for entering the Uri Party, while public servants of Mokpo City, Yeosu City, and Suncheon City of South Jeolla Province were found to have entered the Democratic Party.

Already getting mayoral treatment-

During a sports meet sponsored by the alumni meeting of a high school in Masan City of Gyeongnam Province, civil servants of Masan City assisted the former mayor whose term has expired, because of his candidacy. Some public servants yelled, “Our mayor” when introducing him to the participants.

In Daegu, competing candidates complained when bureau directors and village chiefs accompanied when the incumbent district mayor most likely to win another term was campaigning.

There is a new method of supporting a candidate without getting unnecessary attention for public servants: sending a close friend to the campaign camps to work for you. A campaign worker working for a candidate running for the mayor of Daejeon said, “When I asked a female volunteer what her motives for helping out were, she said that she received a request from a chief who works in the city hall. This is a pretty effective way of showing support without breaking the election laws.”