Park Min-sik: "People Power Party Primary Rules Encourage Adverse Selection and Disregard Party Members"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Park Min-sik, a former People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker and a PPP candidate for Busan mayor, criticized the newly established primary election rules, calling them "encouraging reverse voting and disregarding party members."

On the 17th, Park said on Facebook, "If the survey does not ask about party affiliation, it could cause very serious side effects."

Earlier, the PPP's nomination management committee decided at a meeting held on the 15th to implement a polling rule that does not ask about party support in line with the spirit of a "100% citizen primary."

However, in such a case, supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea could also participate in the PPP poll, potentially leading to "reverse voting."

Park said, "We are currently holding a primary to recommend a mayoral candidate belonging to the People Power Party, but if party affiliation is not asked, more than 30% of the 1,000 survey respondents will be Democratic Party supporters," adding, "Granting primary voting rights even to ruling party supporters is effectively allowing widespread reverse voting and is a foolish strategy that opens the gates wide to the enemy."

He also criticized the limitation of responsible party members' proportion to 20%, saying, "It exposes serious problems in terms of the equivalence of voting value," and pointed out, "The voting value of Democratic Party supporters responding to the survey becomes much higher than that of our responsible party members."

Park emphasized, "I understand this as an intention to actively embrace moderate public opinion and select a strong candidate who can decisively defeat the ruling party," adding, "If that is the case, the possibility of reverse voting by ruling party supporters must be blocked to the maximum extent to prevent discrepancies or distortions between party sentiment and public sentiment and to create the strongest candidate."

He appealed, "Traditional party members, who endured hardships and shared weal and woe when the party was in difficulty due to the significant reduction in the reflection ratio of party sentiment, feel a great sense of loss," adding, "Especially in Busan, which is completely different from Seoul, respect for traditional party members is even more necessary."