Next year’s local elections set to reshape politics

Next year’s June 3 local elections will take place exactly one year after this year’s June 3 presidential election, marking a nationwide vote held simultaneously across the country. In particular, the upcoming elections are expected to include as many as 20 “mini general elections” for by-elections caused by the loss of parliamentary seats due to violations of election law and resignations by lawmakers seeking local office. As a result, the elections will serve not only to select local representatives but also to evaluate the first year of the Lee Jae-myung administration and, in the wake of martial law and the impeachment crisis, to judge both the ruling and opposition blocs.

Both parties have vowed to fight for victory under competing slogans. The Democratic Party, which holds an overwhelming majority in parliament and the power of the executive branch, aims to capture the only remaining stronghold where the opposition still maintains an advantage, thereby securing the foundation for triumph in the next general election and another presidential term. The People Power Party, on the other hand, intends to defeat what it calls the ruling party’s efforts to provoke “insurrection” and push through unilateral legislation, seeking to break through a crisis of conservative collapse and regain political momentum. For both parties, the outcome will determine future governing power and the reconstruction of the conservative bloc.

Yet the behavior of both sides raises the question of whether an election is truly only six months away, given how sharply they are moving against public sentiment. Victory depends on winning over swing voters, but both parties remain surrounded by radical hard-line supporters, pushing moderates away. The ruling party has been forcing through excessive legislation under the banner of eradicating insurrection while pressuring the judiciary, and the opposition is still mired in the quagmire of martial law while refusing to distance itself from the outdated “Yoon Again” faction. Both sides seem more obsessed with demonizing their rivals to cover up internal strife than with appealing to the broader electorate.

Predictably, once the election approaches, both parties will call for unity and remorse as if nothing happened. Yet the public is already making a tough assessment of the governing party’s competence and attitude and the main opposition’s ability to rebuild and restrain power. Voters will not be swayed by empty rhetoric from those who cater only to hard-line supporters when election season arrives or by powerless groups waiting for the other side to fail. Above all, the public will firmly punish political forces that foster division and conflict through excess and bias.