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Three-way race for PPP's Seoul mayoral nomination heats up

Published: 23 Mar. 2026, 14:59

From left: Seoul mayoral candidates Oh Se-hoon, incumbent mayor, first-term lawmaker Park Soo-min, a former People Power Party (PPP) floor spokesperson and Yun Hee-suk, who previously served as chair of the PPP's reform committee [NEWS1, YONHAP]

A three-way competition has taken shape within the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) to secure its nomination to run in the June 3 Seoul mayoral election, the party's nomination committee said Monday.

Three contenders will run in the primary, as three others were eliminated in a cutoff, according to the committee.

Current Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, widely seen as the conservatives' top contender, was among the last to join the race, registering his candidacy last Tuesday after delaying it twice. Oh had cited what he described as the party's lack of effort to sever ties with ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol as the reason.

The incumbent four-term mayor of Seoul has stressed the need to form an “innovative” election committee, calling for concrete changes within the party to clearly distance itself from Yoon.

Oh will compete with first-term lawmaker Park Soo-min, a former PPP floor spokesperson, and Yun Hee-suk, who previously served as chair of the PPP's reform committee.

The committee said it will hold two televised debates by April 10, followed by primary voting on April 16 and 17. The final candidate will then be named on April 18.

Yonhap