hankyoreh

By Seok Jin-hwan

The UDP stated on Sunday that as the registration deadline passed at 9pm on Saturday, 643,353 members of the public had applied to be part of the electoral college. When its 127,920 paid-up members, who are automatically included as voters, were added to this figure, the party said, the total reached 771,273 people (a provisional figure).
Of the the 640,000 members of the public that applied to vote, 88.4% (569,000) had applied for mobile voting. Only 11.6% (74,000) had applied to vote in person at polling stations. Mobile voting will take place over six days, from January 9 to 14. Around 202,000 applicants were Seoul residents and approximately 140,000 were from Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, meaning 59.4 came from the metropolitan region. 22.7% were from the Honam region, which comprises Gwangju and Jeolla province.
Age distribution among mobile voters was fairly even, with 44.4% of applications below the age of 40 and 55.6% in their forties or above. Democratic Party spokesman Oh Jong-sik explained that the old style of elections had become impossible, because of the size of the electoral college, the fact that more than half of applicants were in their 30s and 40s, and the fact that most votes would be made using mobile devices. It was significant, he said, that the party had created a structure that would accurately reflect public sentiment in the selection of its leadership.
The larger-than-expected electoral college has complicated the calculations made by the nine candidates in the primary election. They are keeping their eyes and ears alert, in particular, to try to gauge the identities and voting intentions of the 640,000 public voters. It appears that the key factor in the primary will be Netizens in and outside the party, and members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. In the case of the FKTU, which enjoys the participation of groups such as the Korean Financial Industry Union and the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers’ Unions, analysis suggests that at least 150,000 people have registered to be part of the electoral college. Arguments among supporters of “Jeong Bong-ju’s Future Powers” and “I’m a petty-minded creep” via Twitter and in online cafes over candidates’ past actions is also emerging as a factor.

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