On the afternoon of the 16th, the day of the Seoul superintendent by-election, candidate Jeong Geun-sik (left) and former Seoul superintendent Cho Hee-yeon are having a commemorative photo taken, clasping hands, in Jeong Geun-sik’s office in Mapo-gu, Seoul, before the start of the vote count broadcast. October 16, 2024. Seoul Newspaper.
In the Seoul superintendent by-election, the progressive candidate Jeong Geun-sik is expected to win. As of 10:24 PM on the 16th, with 27.96% of the votes counted, candidate Jeong is leading with a vote share of 53.39% (286,854 votes), ahead of candidate Cho Jun-hyuk, who has 43.04%, by 10.35 percentage points. Candidate Yoon Ho-sang has a vote share of 3.56%.
Running as the sole candidate from the progressive camp, Jeong promised to continue key policies of former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, including innovation in schools and the student rights ordinance.
To address concerns about declining academic performance, he pledged to implement professional diagnostics and strengthen customized education infrastructure for students struggling with basic academic skills, borderline intelligence, dyslexia, and dyscalculia.
Voters seemed to favor maintaining the current framework with some improvements to identified weaknesses, rather than the comprehensive changes to educational policies proposed by the conservative candidate Cho Jun-hyuk.
Jeong’s victory was also aided by successfully reaching a last-minute unification with Choi Boseon, who had initially declared an independent run. Although the conservative camp also put forward a unified candidate early on, votes were split as candidate Yoon Ho-sang pursued a centrist-conservative path.