ISTANBUL
For the first time in 18 years, all seven candidates running in South Korea’s June 3 presidential election are men, despite women making up half of the country’s electorate.
It marks the first all-male ballot since 2007, when all 12 presidential candidates were also men, the Korea Herald reported Tuesday, citing data from the National Election Commission’s Cyber Election History Museum.
Women’s representation peaked in the 2012 election, when Park Geun-hye, the then-leader of the Saenuri Party, became the country’s first woman president.
Out of the seven registered candidates that year, four were women, including Park, Lee Jung-hee of the Unified Progressive Party, and independents Kim So-yeon and Kim Soon-ja.
Since former President Park’s impeachment and removal in March 2017 due to a high-profile corruption case, women’s participation in presidential elections has declined.
In the snap election held in May 2017, following Park’s impeachment, Sim Sang-jung, former leader of the progressive Justice Party, was the only woman candidate among the 15 contenders for the presidency.
Only two women ran in the 2022 election among 14 candidates: Sim, the first woman politician in South Korea to compete in two consecutive presidential elections, and Kim Jae-yeon of the Progressive Party.
South Korea will hold a snap presidential election on June 3 due to the Constitutional Court removing former President Yoon Suk Yeol from office.