Seoul and Busan By-election Candidates Announced by Ruling Party... Opposition Lacks Effective Response Beyond Criticism

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Democratic Party of Korea will conduct a party-wide vote from the 31st to the 1st of next month to nominate candidates for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. The opposition parties criticized the ruling party's decision as "breaking promises" and "cowardly," but aside from criticism, they have no effective countermeasures, which is their limitation.

The Democratic Party will hold a party-wide vote over two days starting today to amend Article 96, Paragraph 2 of the party rules, which prohibits nominating candidates in by-elections caused by faults of candidates belonging to their own party.

The vote will be conducted through the Democratic Party's member platform, targeting eligible party members and delegates as of the August 29 party convention. If the party rules are amended based on the vote results, the Democratic Party will be able to nominate candidates for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. The Democratic Party argued that they want to "nominate candidates and face the judgment of the people," but the opposition parties launched a barrage of criticism.

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, said, "It is embarrassing as a political party," and criticized, "They set the party rules themselves, but now that the situation has changed, they want to nominate candidates under the pretext of a party member vote. If they don't like it, they change the rules to suit their own will."

Joo Ho-young, floor leader, also said at the floor strategy meeting on the 30th, "If there is no trust in words, other words lose trust as well. The ruling party has done things close to deception and fraud not just once but several times," adding, "Are they planning to lead Korea into a fraud republic?" Sung Il-jong, a member of the People Power Party's emergency committee, appeared on KBS Radio's "Kim Kyung-rae's Strong Current Affairs" on the 30th and said, "President Moon made a promise (five years ago as party leader) to Article 96, Paragraph 2 of the party rules that 'when elected officials lose their positions due to corruption or serious misconduct, no candidates will be nominated,' and it was included in the party rules. I hope the president responds to this issue."

Within the party, voices are also emerging to urge the Democratic Party to accept the 'Park Won-soon and Oh Keo-don Prevention Bill,' jointly proposed with the People's Party and the Justice Party. On the morning of the same day, Park Soo-young, a People Power Party lawmaker, wrote on Facebook, "The bill was proposed, but the Democratic Party is hesitating, so it has not been passed into law," and said, "Let's prioritize this bill in the Public Administration and Security Committee and pass it within the regular session of the National Assembly. That is the minimum courtesy to the victims."