Controversy Over Point Deduction Rules for Incumbents and Independent Candidates
Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 7th and is talking with Supreme Council member Kim Jae-won during the meeting. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, claimed that Lee Jun-seok, the party leader, proposed a draft with higher penalty points regarding the nomination penalty regulations for incumbent lawmakers and others in the local elections. In response, Lee opposed penalties for both incumbent candidacy and independent candidacy history.
On the 23rd, Kim, on TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory,' said, "The draft brought by the party leader is about thirteen pages long," adding, "It included a 25% deduction for those with a history of leaving the party, a 25% deduction for those with disciplinary records, and a 15% deduction for those who received disciplinary actions of suspension of party membership or higher."
He continued, "Submitting the draft nomination management regulations to the Supreme Council is the leader's authority, and the leader convened the meeting to discuss it, which included these contents," and explained, "Among them, due to various controversies, I suggested unifying the deductions to 15% instead of having 25% and 15% separately because it was complicated."
Earlier, on the 21st, the Supreme Council held a meeting and decided to apply a 15% deduction for those with a history of independent candidacy within the last five years and a 10% deduction for incumbent lawmakers in the local election nominations.
Also, Kim denied allegations that he led the establishment of this rule to check Hong, saying, "It is true that Assemblyman Hong falls under this, but there are thousands of people applying for nominations nationwide."
In response, Lee met with reporters at the National Assembly and rebutted, "I have opposed penalties for both incumbent candidacy and independent candidacy history." He criticized, "Coincidentally today, Kim Jae-won said on the broadcast that I proposed a 35% penalty but he himself reduced it to 25%. The meeting minutes remain, and attendees all say that was not the case at all. I think Kim is trying to shift blame onto the party leader amid misunderstandings as he is running for Daegu mayor recently. I wonder what kind of situation this is."
He added, "I hope the media does not misunderstand during their coverage, and Kim Jae-won should stop appearing on Kim Eo-jun's broadcast."
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