A Study on the Establishment and Application, Monitoring of ‘Korean-style’ Local Election Model: Focusing on the 2002~2022 Local Election Longitudinal Survey

This study analyzes the trends of factors influencing voting behavior and decisions based on voters' candidate decision factors for local elections in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. The research results are summarized as follows. First, it can be seen that the timing of candidate decisions is getting somewhat faster as the election progresses. Second, when looking at political parties, people, and pledge factors as criteria for voting decisions, political party factors are the most important influencing factors recently. Third, election problems include election indifference, a proliferation of candidates, and regional conflict, and election improvement plans emphasize attracting voter interest and participation, developing feasible policies, and improving candidate qualifications and abilities. The creation of an election environment in which voters' interest in local elections can be increased and sufficient information can be easily provided to make reasonable voting choices must be established first. In the future, it is necessary to apply the Korean-style local election model, and political party factors were emphasized as a criterion for local voters' candidate selection decisions, and the establishment of a desirable local election culture was promoted through revitalization of local autonomy, creation of an election environment, improvement of regionalism, and localization of the election system. Although it is not easy to develop a standard model for Korean local elections, follow-up research is needed to generalize and standardize voters' candidate selection models for local elections.