When Seoul citizens go to the polls today, their minds will be more focused on which way the Republic of Korea should be directed rather than what the capital city administration should do.

Both candidates Na Kyung-won from the conservative ruling Grand National Party and Park Won-soon supported by a coalition of opposition parties and liberal civic groups had jurist careers and no experience in municipal administration. They debated over some welfare and city development policies, but their two weeks of campaigning were dominated by ideological contention and attacks on each other’s thoughts and behaviors.

Na rather easily won the GNP nomination after a few intra-party contenders dropped out of contention. Yet the second-term lawmaker from a Seoul constituency had to share the blame on ex-mayor Oh Se-hoon, who resigned after a botched city referendum on free school lunches that he had opposed. The 47-year-old mother of two children quickly gained popularity with her personal charm and, importantly, the support of Park Geun-hye, the presidential frontrunner in the GNP.

Park Won-soon, 55, a lawyer-turned-civic activist, had a single-digit approval rating when he first declared candidacy immediately after Oh’s resignation. But his figures shot up when he was personally endorsed by Ahn Cheol-soo, a liberal-idealist icon. As the two candidates drew neck and neck in popularity figures, Ahn openly joined Park’s campaign two days before the vote, but the effect of his last-minute help will be known only after ballots are counted.

It may not exactly be a proxy war for Park Geun-hye and Ahn Cheol-soo over the December 2012 presidential election, as Seoulites have other considerations in making their choice for the chief of the capital city, the nation’s political, economic, social and cultural center. Still, the two candidates’ respective dependence on those two national figures put them into an indirect contest.

The Na-Park combination and the Park-Ahn pairing clearly reflects the polarization of Korean society that has accelerated in recent years. And the mayoral by-election made the ideological divide between the right and left and even the generational gulf between the old and young widened. It was a preview of how the presidential election will go a year later.

Visiting Park’s campaign headquarters Monday, Ahn, told supporters that the Seoul election should not be a confrontation “between the rich and poor, old and young, Gangnam and Gangbuk, and not between the conservatives and liberals.” He said voters should ask “who speaks the truth and who represents the future instead of the past,” and exhorted more to come to the polls and win.

Na countered that Park was already admitting defeat as he was borrowing the influence of somebody else. GNP chairman Hong Joon-pyo challenged Ahn to come out of his university office and throw himself into the “political arena” where everything about him could be examined.

While the media was banned from revealing opinion survey results in the week before polling day, the rival camps made desperate efforts to bring their supporters to the polls, with the GNP appealing to voters in their 50s or older and the Park Won-soon camp rallying young students and office workers. Campaigners will be trying to make the maximum use of SNS throughout the voting hours and more responses can be expected of the younger “smart” generation.

By-elections on a weekday have usually recorded voter turnouts below 50 percent. A higher percentage is expected this time from the effect of Geun-hye and Ahn Cheol-soo’s involvement in the campaign. Added to the average will be young voters who are generally swayed by the images of candidates rather than their platforms.

The Oct. 26, 2011 by-election in Seoul is destined to be a landmark event in Korea’s political history as public resentment against unproductive, strife-torn partisan politics has already left its mark in the course of candidate nomination. And the result of vote counting tonight will have a great bearing on the politics in the lead-up to the December presidential vote next year.