Democratic Party convention race tightens as Kim edges ahead of Chung

The Democratic Party's race for its next leader intensifies on August 9 with the fourth round of convention delegate voting taking place in Gangwon and Daegu/Gyeongbuk. The contest remains a nail-biting affair between frontrunners Kim Min-seok and Chung Jin-ryeon, with the cumulative vote count seesawing between them.

Kim Min-seok regained the overall lead after the results from Jeju and Incheon were announced the previous day. In those votes, Kim secured 22,537 votes (47.75%) compared to Chung's 19,862 votes (42.08%), a difference of 2,675 votes or 5.67 percentage points. This puts Kim ahead of Chung by a slim margin of 0.86 percentage points in the combined tally from the Chungcheong, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam regions, as well as Jeju and Incheon.

While the Gangwon and Daegu/Gyeongbuk delegate votes, representing only 2.9% and 1.9% of the total respectively, are unlikely to significantly sway the overall election, they are closely watched for momentum. The party will announce the results of the convention delegate votes for these regions after joint rallies held in Hoengseong, Gangwon, and Daegu.

The final decision on the party leadership is widely anticipated to hinge on the upcoming delegate votes in the Gyeonggi and Seoul regions, which constitute approximately 70% of the total. Results from these large delegate pools are expected on August 15 and 16, respectively, setting the stage for the conclusion of the closely contested leadership race.