South Koreans head to the polls on Wednesday to elect mayors and provincial governors in a vote seen as a referendum on President Lee Jae Myung’s popularity and a crucial test for the beleaguered conservative opposition.
Recent surveys suggest that Mr. Lee’s center-left Democratic Party is favored to win a majority of the races, in the first nationwide elections since he took office. Analysts are focusing on what the margin of victory will be.
Four years ago, the conservative People Power Party swept the last local elections in a landslide. Its standing has collapsed since its leader, then President Yoon Suk Yeol, made a widely condemned decision to impose martial law in late 2024. He was eventually removed from office and sentenced to life imprisonment on insurrection charges.
Mr. Lee assumed the presidency a year ago and has since gained popularity, helped by pragmatic diplomacy and an unprecedented rally in the domestic stock market.
