Lee Nak-yeon's Side: Lee Jae-myung's Vote Share 49.32%... "Valid Votes Cannot Be Retroactively Invalidated"

Former Leader of the Democratic Party Lee Nak-yeon [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon's camp announced on the 11th that "Candidate Lee Jae-myung's vote share is 49.32%" and that a runoff vote must be held.

Lawmakers belonging to Lee Nak-yeon's Pil-yeon Camp held a press conference on the same day, arguing that "there is a mistake in the leadership's judgment regarding the special party rules" and that the announcement of the primary election results the previous day actually violates the party's constitution and regulations.

According to the camp, "According to Article 59, Paragraph 1 of the special party rules, votes cast for candidates who have withdrawn are invalid, and votes cast for candidates who have not withdrawn are valid votes. Therefore, the 23,731 votes cast for former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun before September 13 (the date of his withdrawal) and the 4,411 votes cast for Representative Kim Doo-kwan before September 27 (the date of his withdrawal) are valid votes because they were cast for candidates who had not withdrawn." They claim that the 257 votes cast for Representative Kim after September 27 are invalid as they were votes for a withdrawn candidate.

The camp argued that once the counting results are announced, they are confirmed as valid votes and cannot be retroactively invalidated due to a candidate's withdrawal. Since the election commission announced the results as valid votes at the time of the announcement during the regional primaries and there was no separate announcement or resolution declaring them invalid afterward, including them in the "simple aggregate" during the final result announcement the previous day aligns with the party's constitution and regulations.

The camp urged, "If the party's constitution and regulations are properly applied, Candidate Lee Jae-myung's vote share is 49.32%, which is below the majority. Therefore, according to the party's constitution and regulations, a runoff vote must be held."