Seoul education Superintendent Jung Keun-sik holds a news conference on June 4 as he reports for his first day at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education after securing a second term. [NEWS1]
Progressive candidates won 10 of the 16 metropolitan and provincial education superintendent races, with conservatives taking the other six.
The outcome, reported by the National Election Commission on Thursday morning, falls short of the 2018 election, remembered as the high-water mark for progressive superintendents, when they won 14 seats to the conservatives' three.
Balance started to tilt in 2022 as eight conservative superintendents and nine progressive superintendents were elected.
Exit polls by the three major broadcasters, released right after voting ended Wednesday, had projected as few as three conservative winners, but the actual count produced more.
