[Ruling Party Leader Kim Min-seok] Grassroots Members Cultivated by Jung Chung-rae Choose Kim Min-seok

With the introduction of the 'one person, one vote' system, the relative value of each grassroots member's vote approximately 17-fold higher, newly-elected leader Kim Min-seok secured party leadership by maintaining an advantage among both delegates and grassroots members at the Democratic Party's national convention.

According to the Democratic Party and others on the 18th, Leader Kim obtained a final 54.08% at the 3rd Regular National Party Convention held the previous day at the Daejeon Convention Center through preferential voting, defeating candidate Jung Chung-rae who recorded 45.92% by a margin of 8.16%p and was elected party leader.

The preferential voting system was applied, redistributing second-choice votes from voters who selected third-place candidate Song Young-gil after no candidate won an outright majority in the first round of voting.

For the first time at this convention, the 'one person, one vote' system was applied, calculating delegates' and grassroots members' votes with equal value.

At last year's convention where candidate Jung was elected party leader, delegate votes accounted for 15%, grassroots member votes 55%, and national opinion polls 30% respectively. Despite the delegate electorate being significantly smaller than grassroots members, a separate 15% allocation resulted in each delegate's vote carrying approximately 17 times the influence of a grassroots member's vote.

This year, delegate and grassroots member votes were combined at a 1:1 ratio, reflecting 70% of the overall results. The national opinion poll weighting remained at 30% as last year.

While maintaining the party voice's overall reflection ratio at 70%, the 'vote value' of delegates and grassroots members were equalized within the party voice category. Consequently, the relative value of each grassroots member's vote compared to delegates increased approximately 17-fold from last year.

The 'one person, one vote' system was an initiative pursued when candidate Jung served as party leader.

At last year's convention, candidate Jung secured party leadership based on overwhelming grassroots member support.

At that time, candidate Jung obtained 428,470 grassroots member votes, significantly outpacing candidate Park Chan-dae who received 212,195 votes. In vote share terms, candidate Jung was 66.48% while candidate Park was 33.52%.

Among delegates, however, candidate Jung received 6,142 votes compared to candidate Park's 6,951 votes. In vote share, candidate Jung was 46.91% while candidate Park was 53.09%.

In national opinion polls, candidate Jung led with 60.47% to candidate Park's 39.53%.

Though candidate Jung lost among delegates, he secured advantages in grassroots member votes and national opinion polls, ultimately obtaining 61.74% and being elected party leader.

The 'one person, one vote' system, first applied one year later, represented an institutional change that relatively raised the vote value of grassroots members where candidate Jung had shown strength last year.

However, party members' choices differed this convention.

Leader Kim obtained 55.94% in grassroots member voting, leading candidate Jung's 44.06% by 11.88%p.

The gap widened among delegates. Leader Kim obtained 66.69% while candidate Jung received only 33.31%, with a margin of 33.38%p.

Candidate Jung led over Leader Kim only in national opinion polls, obtaining 50.70% compared to Leader Kim's 49.30%, a margin of 1.40%p.

Candidate Jung, who showed advantages in both grassroots member voting and national opinion polls last year, this time only led in national opinion polls.

Notably, applying this convention's results to last year's electoral method reveals the institutional change's impact on both candidates.

When the 2026 actual delegate, grassroots member, and national opinion poll vote shares are simply applied to the 2025 formula, Leader Kim would be calculated at 55.56% and candidate Jung at 44.44%, with Leader Kim leading by 11.12%p. This exceeds the actual final margin of 8.16%p this convention by 2.96%p.

This is because if a separate 15% weighting were applied to delegate voting where Leader Kim obtained 66.69%, as done last year, the advantage secured in delegate voting would be more significantly reflected in the final results.

Nevertheless, this is simple conversion assuming each electorate's vote share would be identical even under last year's method. Different electoral systems could have altered candidate strategies and voting behavior, not reflecting actual election outcomes.

Regardless, the simple conversion result shows this 'one person, one vote' system reduced the influence of delegate votes that had favored Leader Kim.

Leader Kim led candidate Jung by 33.38%p among delegates but only 11.88%p among grassroots members. Unlike last year's method which separately allocated 15% to delegates, this year's equal calculation of both electorates' votes diluted Leader Kim's significant delegate advantage within overall party member voting.

Ultimately, this convention saw the weighting of delegates—where candidate Jung was relatively weak last year—disappear and the vote value of grassroots members—where he was strong—increase, yet Leader Kim led in both delegates and grassroots members, preventing the institutional change from altering the victor.

A political sphere insider stated, "When this year's vote results are applied to last year's method, Leader Kim Min-seok's winning margin, which overwhelmingly led among delegates, would actually widen further," and "With delegate weighting removed, even securing grassroots member support demonstrates that party consensus emphasizing stability between ruling party and government and success of the Lee Jae-myung administration influenced the outcome."