Seoul, capital and largest city in the Republic of Korea, held a Mayoral election on October 26. The election was won by Park Won-soon, an independent candidate. He is the first independent ever elected to this position since Seoul has been having elections for city office. See this story. Park defeated the nominee of the party that runs the national government. Over 4,000,000 votes were cast in the Mayoral election. No city in the United States has ever had that many voters voting in a city election.
Yes, it was an interesting series of announcements and endorsements. The opposition Democratic Party could not find a popular candidate so threw its support behind the independent rather than split the opposition vote and permit the Grand National Party candidate,Ms. Na, to win. Another possible independent candidate, Mr. Ahn, who happens to live in the apartment building accross the street from mine, and who was even more popular than Mr. Park, shrewdly endorsed Mr. Park and then with this success, is in contention to contest the Presidential election next year.
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