The Democratic Party of Korea has officially designated candidates for the upcoming local elections on June 3 in four critical regions: Seoul, Gyeonggi, Ulsan, and the newly proposed Integrated Special City of Gwangju. During a meeting held on July 2, the party's candidate management committee, chaired by Kim E-soo, announced that all candidates who applied for the mayoral and gubernatorial positions in these cities would be treated as preliminary candidates for the elections. In Gwangju, which will conduct a new Integrated Special City election, the party plans to suggest the implementation of a citizen jury system for candidate selection during the upcoming Supreme Council meeting.

The selection process will involve preliminary evaluations in Seoul and Gyeonggi, where the top three candidates will be shortlisted based on internal party rules. If there are no women or youth among the top three, an additional candidate will be added to ensure diversity. Meanwhile, in the Integrated Special City of Gwangju, candidates will undergo a preliminary round to narrow down the contenders to five while hosting joint speeches and debates in each region. The new citizen jury system allows randomly or openly recruited citizens to participate in the candidate nomination process, enhancing democratic engagement.

As for Busan, the party has decided to hold an additional recruitment period from September 9 to 14, largely influenced by notable candidate Jeon Jae-soo, who has yet to apply for candidacy. Kim E-soo emphasized that the entire candidate nomination process, including runoff elections, should be completed by October 20, and there are ongoing considerations to schedule the Seoul preliminary election last, following Gyeonggi and Gwangju.