"If the Central Committee preliminary primary results had been disclosed, the party convention dynamics might have changed somewhat"
[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Cho Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 18th, "Every time I meet members of the People Power Party, they ask me, 'You’re really going to become Lee Jae-myung, right?'" and added, "That’s all they expect right now."
On the same day, Cho appeared on CBS Radio’s Kim Hyun-jung News Show and said, "Our party (Democratic Party) is now completely united as hardliners, heading for a head-to-head confrontation, solidifying a hostile symbiotic relationship." He further explained, "The situation has shifted from Eodaem (Anyway, the party leader is Lee Jae-myung) to Hwadaem (Definitely, the party leader is Lee Jae-myung), which is very favorable."
He expressed concern that after losing both the presidential and local elections, the momentum for party reform has also diminished. Cho said, "Until recently, people kept saying ‘do well, do well,’ but now they don’t even say that," adding, "People like me have no place to stand." He continued, "Since the government and ruling party are performing so poorly, when we say ‘let’s reflect and reform,’ it has become a very trivial matter," and noted, "Our party has reflected enough; why do they keep telling us to reflect more?" Regarding the recent controversy over amending Article 80 of the party constitution, which suspends party positions if indicted for corruption, he said, "Is it normal for the opposition party to make a noisy preemptive suspension plan targeting someone who hasn’t even been indicted before becoming the leader?"
Regarding the presidential election race, Cho also expressed regret over the non-disclosure of the Central Committee preliminary election results. He said, "I think things would have been a bit different if the results had been made public." Earlier, on June 2nd, he appeared on KBS Radio’s ‘Choi Kyung-young’s Strong Current Affairs’ and mentioned regarding the Central Committee results, "I heard the vote difference between first and second place was not significant." Cho added, "If the anti-Lee Jae-myung faction had such an overwhelming result, there could have been grounds or an opportunity to openly say ‘this is different.’"
Currently, in the Democratic Party primary, candidate Kang Hoon-sik withdrew, and his votes were invalidated, resulting in candidate Lee’s current party member vote share at 78.65%, and Park Yong-jin’s party leader candidate vote share at 21.35%. The first national opinion poll also showed candidate Lee’s support rising from 79.69% to 82.45%, while candidate Park’s was at 16.96%.
Regarding candidate Lee’s lead in the party member vote, Cho said, "Votes are mainly coming from hardliner groups who believe candidate Lee should become the party leader." He added, "Since two supreme council members must be selected, voters are called twice, so they have to listen to 16 candidates. Without considerable affection for the Democratic Party, people would quit."
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