Anchor: With just two days left until the general elections, both the ruling People Power Party(PPP) and main opposition Democratic Party(DP) are trying to woo voters across the country, including in Gangwon Province and Jeju Island where eight seats and three seats, respectively, are up for grabs. In today’s installment of our report series on the current political landscapes of the nation's major cities and provinces, our Yun Sohyang takes a look at where things stand in the two areas. 

Report: The two-day early voting period for the general elections ended on Saturday, with the Gangwon area seeing its highest turnout for the general elections. 

According to the National Election Commission(NEC), 434-thousand-704 people or 32-point-six percent of the one-point-33 million eligible voters in Gangwon Province cast their ballots during the early voting period. It marks the province’s highest turnout in the general elections since the country introduced early voting in 2014. 

The main opposition Democratic Party(DP) said the high turnout showed the strong desire of the public to pass judgment on the Yoon Suk Yeol government. 

Conversely, the ruling People Power Party(PPP) considered it a sign that conservative voters headed to the polling stations to pass judgment on DP chair Lee Jae-myung and former justice minister Cho Kuk, with swing voters joining the move.  

Gangneung in Gangwon Province is one of the traditional strongholds for conservatives with incumbent Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the PPP having retained his parliamentary seat in Gangneung four consecutive times. He is hoping to be elected for the fifth time in the upcoming elections. 

But some changes have been seen in the province in recent years. Conservative parties swept all nine seats in the 2012 general elections, but the DP managed to win one in the 2016 general elections and three in the 2020 general elections. 

The DP’s candidate for Gangneung, Kim Jung-nam, a civic and environmental activist, has pledged to seek the enactment of a law on utilizing the city’s Winter Olympic facilities. Kim said that he will make Gangneung a city of leisure and sport with the law, vowing to host various international events in the city. 

Kweon, the PPP’s heavyweight politician, said he can secure a large budget and multiple projects for the city as the ruling party’s senior lawmaker. His key election pledge is to create decent jobs and bolster the city’s industrial infrastructure. 

Dylan Motin, a researcher at Kangwon National University says that for some voters, the upcoming elections are about condemning lackluster major projects by the Moon Jae-in administration. Such projects include the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, the Legoland theme park in Chuncheon and also the KTX line running from Seoul to the coastal city of Gangneung.

[Soundbite: Dylan Motin, researcher for Center for International and Strategic Studies at Kangwon National University]
"So the DP banked a lot of capital on this project hoping that it would bring a lot of tourism and new economic activity to the region. But after the Olympics, I didn't see a lot of tourists coming for winter sports, the Legoland project is something of a failure, it did not have as much clients as expected, and in 2023, you almost had a nationwide financial crisis because of the failure of Legoland. So I do believe that economics will matter a lot and voters may want to punish the DP." 

According to rival parties’ estimates on the weekend ahead of the general elections, the PPP assessed that it was leading in six of eight districts in Gangwon Province, while the DP estimates it is in the lead in three closely-contested constituencies. 

Meanwhile, the DP is confident of its lead in all three districts on Jeju Island, which is considered one of the DP’s strongholds.

Moon Dae-lim, the DP’s candidate for the Jeju City A district, urged local voters to support him, saying that he is a man with an indomitable spirit and that he will pass judgment on the government, which is neglecting Jeju. 

The PPP’s candidate Ko Kwang-cheol in the Jeju City A district also appealed to voters for support, saying that he had worked to secure a budget increase for Jeju as an assistant to a lawmaker and is ready to serve Jeju. 

The rival parties are also engaging in a heated contest in the country’s southernmost electoral district of Seogwipo City on the southern island, with DP candidate Wi Seong-gon competing against PPP candidate Ko Ki-cheol.

Most candidates of the island plan to canvass in their districts until Election Day.