과반까지 1%…‘명픽’ 김민석, 오늘 ‘민주당 대표’ 확정될까

The Democratic Party is set to elect a new chair for the next two years, with Kim Min-seok leading as the candidate. The race between Kim and incumbent candidate Chung Jae is tight, with Kim leading by 8.40 percentage points in accumulated votes from the 16 regional rallies, totaling 49.91% of the votes (38,337,000). In contrast, Chung has 41.51% of the votes (31,880,000).

If Kim reaches over 50% of the vote, he will be confirmed as chair without further complications. However, if he falls short, a preferential voting system will be used. In this system, voters rank candidates from 1 to 3, and if no candidate has a majority, the third-place candidate will receive the votes of those who ranked the leading candidate third.

The final decision will be made based on the votes of the five highest-ranking candidates. The current contenders for the position of chair include three from the Chung camp and two from the Kim camp, forming an intricate political landscape. The potential chair candidates from both camps are intensely competing for the position, with the final vote between the third and sixth place contenders standing at just 2,312 votes, or 0.15% of the total.