Lawmakers from the opposition party say, "'Party Convention Rules' Interim Committee Decision Declares Maintenance of Established Interests... Demand for All-Member Voting"

Opposition to Emergency Committee Decision Overturning Jeon Jun-wi's Announcement
Criticism of Cutoff National Poll and Regional Voting System

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Members of the Democratic Party of Korea criticized the party's Emergency Response Committee for overturning the 'Party Convention Rules' decided by the Party Convention Preparation Committee and demanded "a 'vote by all party members' in which every member participates."

On the 5th, Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Nam-guk, Kim Yong-min, Park Joo-min, Yang Yi-won-young, Jang Kyung-tae, Jung Chung-rae, Jung Sung-ho, and Kim Byung-wook held a press conference at the National Assembly, stating, "The owners of the Democratic Party are the party members. Ask the members and let them decide on the leadership election."

The statement included the names of 39 Democratic Party lawmakers and regional committee heads. They directly criticized the Emergency Response Committee's decision as "a declaration by a very small number of insiders within the party, such as lawmakers, to maintain their vested interests," adding, "It seems there was insufficient discussion."

The day before, the Party Convention Preparation Committee adopted a plan to increase the reflection ratio of public opinion polls in the party leader and Supreme Council member primaries (introducing a 30% preliminary primary and expanding the main primary to 25%). However, the Emergency Response Committee held a closed meeting immediately afterward, scrapped the adjustment plan, and resolved to apply 100% Central Committee member voting as before. They also proposed a method to strengthen regional representation by allowing one of the two votes in the Supreme Council member election to be cast for a candidate running within the voter's region.

In response, Democratic Party lawmakers criticized, "This is a direct rejection of the party innovation plan prepared through in-depth discussions by our party lawmakers," and said, "If the preliminary primary is conducted only by Central Committee-level members, the problem of only candidates supported by the party's vested interest groups being voted on will continue." They added, "It is a declaration that they will not take a single step forward from protecting vested interests within the party, which has been pointed out for a long time."

Regarding the regional voting system for Supreme Council members, they argued, "It restricts and forces party members' voting rights, which is a direct violation of procedural democracy," and warned, "It could revive regionalism and trap our party as a party limited to a specific region."

They also pointed out that it could cause reverse discrimination. They said, "The Yeongnam region has absolutely fewer seats and registered party members than the Honam region," and added, "In such a situation, if voters are forced to cast one vote in their own region, Yeongnam could become the subject of reverse discrimination."