President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 26. (Pool Photo via Yonhap) Wednesday's local elections have become an assessment of President Lee Jae Myung's administration, as rival parties recast the vote as a choice between strengthening the Lee administration and checking its power.The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the main opposition People Power Party have increasingly turned the June 3 local elections — the first nationwide vote since Lee took office — into a broader political battle over his administration.The Lee-centered campaign has overshadowed region-specific pledges in races where voters will choose 16 metropolitan mayors and provincial governors, 16 superintendents of education, 227 local government heads and around 4,000 local council members.The Democratic Party has repeatedly appealed to voters to back candidates aligned with the president, arguing that the elections should serve as a show of support for Lee’s leadership.“If President Lee is doing a good job, and if you want to give strength to the president, then please vote for the Democratic Party, the No. 1 party affiliated with President Lee,” Democratic Party leader Rep. Jung Chung-rae said Monday during a central election committee meeting in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.“If you want to support the administration and help strengthen state affairs management, then vote for Democratic Party No. 1,” he added.During a visit to Gurye, South Jeolla Province, on Sunday, Chung said, “This election is an election to give strength to President Lee Jae Myung of the Democratic Party.”Woo Sang-ho, the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial candidate for Gangwon Province and Lee’s first senior presidential secretary for political affairs, said the elections were increasingly being viewed through the lens of public evaluations of the president.“After all, the main criteria in this election are likely to be whether President Lee Jae Myung has done a good job and whether the incumbent governor has performed well,” Woo said Monday in an interview with local CBS radio.The conservative People Power Party, meanwhile, intensified efforts to portray the elections as a judgment on Lee and his administration.“The public must deliver a stern judgment against the arrogance of the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party,” People Power Party Chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok said Monday during a campaign stop on Jeju Island, urging conservative voters to turn out.People Power Party floor leader Rep. Song Eon-seog on Monday called on voters to check the Lee administration and ruling Democratic Party, saying, “I ask the public to pass judgment on this arrogant authoritarian administration,” during a news conference at the National Assembly.Song, furthermore, took aim at the Democratic Party over a proposed — but now suspended — special counsel investigation that could lead to the cancellation of criminal charges against Lee.“If the public does not send a warning now, the Lee administration will push ahead with a special counsel probe aimed at canceling prosecutions (against Lee), and the Democratic Party will monopolize Assembly committees and continue legislative domination,” Song said. “The Supreme Court could ultimately fall completely under this administration’s control.”Song also sought to intensify the party’s offensive against Lee ahead of the elections.He continued the party's criticism of Lee’s recent social media posts denouncing Starbucks Korea over a marketing campaign that critics said belittled victims of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. He also echoed the party’s criticism of Lee’s conduct during early voting Friday, when the president briefly stepped out of the voting booth and asked an election official whether his ballot would still be valid if the stamp mark was incomplete.“We could end up in a situation where we have no choice but to watch two years of reckless rampage unfold. Shouldn’t there be at least a minimum check on arrogant power?” Song said.