Lee Nak-yeon Side: "Invalidating Withdrawal Candidate Votes Undermines the Runoff Voting System"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The camp of former Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon criticized on the 28th that invalidating the votes of candidates who withdrew during the primary process undermines the 'runoff voting system.' They also demanded the party convene a party affairs committee to provide a new interpretation of the rules.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

That afternoon, Lee Nak-yeon’s campaign co-chairman Seol Hoon, general headquarters chief Park Kwang-on, political affairs director Yoon Young-chan, and chief spokesperson Oh Young-hoon held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall, stating, "There is growing concern among the public and party members regarding the party election commission’s decision to invalidate the votes of former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Representative Kim Du-kwan, who withdrew during the primary process," and added, "Votes cast before a candidate’s withdrawal are valid, while votes cast after are invalid."

Previously, the party election commission decided to exclude votes obtained by candidates who withdrew midway from the valid vote count. This raises the vote percentages of other candidates, and Lee’s camp criticizes this as a structure that further benefits Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province, who is already securing a majority, by allowing him to advance directly to the final election without a runoff.

Lee’s camp is questioning the interpretation of Article 59, Paragraph 1 of the Special Party Rules for the Selection of the 20th Presidential Election Candidate (which states that votes for candidates who withdraw during the primary are invalid). They explain that this clause pertains to future votes.

Park Kwang-on, general headquarters chief, said, "Although candidate Kim Du-kwan withdrew, voting is still ongoing in Jeju Island, and his name appears as an option," adding, "Article 59, Paragraph 1 is meant to address exactly this situation."

He continued, "The Central Election Commission’s interpretation that all votes for a candidate are invalidated is an excessive and incorrect interpretation," and criticized, "The party’s supreme council accepting this as is means accepting a mistake."

He pointed out that this interpretation by the election commission effectively nullifies the runoff voting system.

The Democratic Party holds a runoff between the top two candidates if no candidate secures a majority.

Lee’s camp criticized that if Article 59, Paragraph 1 is interpreted to invalidate all votes cast for a withdrawn candidate, including those cast before withdrawal, it distorts the vote percentages of each candidate against the will of the primary voters, risking a majority being decided in the first round improperly.

For example, if the vote shares are 40% for first place, 35% for second, and 25% for third, and the third-place candidate withdraws, the first-place candidate’s share would be recalculated as 53.3%, contradicting the purpose of the runoff system. Similarly, if the shares are 49%, 26%, and 25%, and the first-place candidate withdraws, the second-place candidate would be treated as having 51% of the vote and declared the winner, despite actually having only 26%, which goes against the runoff system’s intent to 'strengthen representation.'

Therefore, they emphasized that if votes cast for withdrawn candidates before their withdrawal are excluded from the total vote count, the runoff voting system cannot be considered effectively adopted.

Lee’s camp strongly urged, "We strongly request the prompt convening of the party affairs committee to provide a new interpretation of Article 59, Paragraph 1 of the Special Party Rules for the Selection of the 20th Presidential Election Candidate."