"Democratic Party Gwangju Branch, Citizens Outraged Demanding Transparent Nomination Review"

518 Democratic Party Members Hold Press Conference, Protesting "No Flaws in Central Party Standards"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Citizens in the Gwangju area have called on the Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju City Party to ensure transparent management of the primary elections.

On the 14th, they issued a statement under the name of "518 Party Members and Residents Who Love the Democratic Party," raising their voices, saying, "The Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju Metropolitan City Party should step back from the Seo-gu District Mayor primary and leave it to the citizens and party members with voting rights."

They criticized, "The specific candidate who was disqualified does not have any issues according to the central party’s standards," and added, "It is unreasonable to try to exclude the preliminary candidate with the highest chance of winning from the primary election process."

They further claimed, "We cannot shake off the suspicion that this is a political maneuver carried out as part of placing one’s own people, which has been widespread until now."

They expressed concern, saying, "If the Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju City Party, which has completely lost fairness regarding the local election primaries, is entrusted with managing the Seo-gu District Mayor primary, who among the citizens of Gwangju will consider the results fair?"

They also emphasized, "The Gwangju City Party’s Public Official Recommendation Committee has lost the qualification to conduct cutoffs through interviews," and added, "The method should be to decide the final candidate through primaries without any cutoffs, as is currently being done in the Dong-gu and Nam-gu District Mayor primaries."

Furthermore, they pointed out, "An incident recently occurred where the list of party members with voting rights, which the Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju City Party should thoroughly manage, was leaked," and accused, "It is known that a specific preliminary candidate for Seo-gu District Mayor, actively supported by the Gwangju City Party Chairperson, improperly used this list."

They urged, "Even now, a thorough investigation should be conducted to identify those responsible and impose strict punishment."