The Critical Moment Has Passed... Lee's Arrest Motion 'Rejected' with at Least 31 Votes Defected (Comprehensive)

Rejected with 139 votes in favor, failing to pass the majority... 138 votes against
Despite vote monitoring, at least 31 defections including 18 'in favor' votes on party arrest consent
Leadership blow inevitable for Representative Lee

The arrest warrant request for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was charged with preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project and allegations related to donations to Seongnam FC, was rejected in the plenary session of the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 27th. Although the rejection means that the court will not decide on Lee's detention, the large number of dissenting votes within the party is expected to deal a significant blow to his leadership.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the plenary session vote on the arrest warrant request for Lee, 297 out of 299 members participated, with 139 votes in favor, 138 against, 11 invalid votes, and 9 abstentions, resulting in rejection.

An arrest warrant request is approved if a majority of the total members are present and a majority of those present vote in favor. For Lee's arrest warrant to pass, he needed at least 28 'yes' votes from the Democratic Party in addition to 121 votes from the People Power Party (114 seats), the Justice Party (6 seats), and the Transition Korea Party (1 seat). However, only 18 Democratic Party members voted in favor. Although the request was rejected because the 'yes' votes did not exceed the majority, since all 169 Democratic Party members attended the vote and only 138 votes were against, it appears that at least 31 members defected. Besides the 17 who actively supported the arrest warrant, about 14 votes were either abstentions or invalid.

Before the vote, the Democratic Party had repeatedly expressed confidence in an 'overwhelming rejection' during consecutive party meetings. They chose not to set a party line for 'rejection' and allowed a free vote in this context. Lee himself met with dissident members to secure votes, but ultimately it seems insufficient to prevent defections.

Before the vote on the arrest warrant, Lee delivered a personal statement, saying, "The contents of the warrant are truly groundless," and meticulously refuted the allegations presented by the prosecution. He criticized the prosecution, calling it "an unprecedented constitutional crisis attempting to detain the leader of the main opposition party without clear evidence," and strongly asserted his innocence and lack of guilt to the assembly members.

Regarding the Daejang-dong development project, Lee questioned, "They claim it is breach of trust because only 70% of the development profits were recovered, but where did the figure of 70% come from? What crime is it that Busan LCT and Yangpyeong Gongheung District recovered 0% of development profits?" He also addressed the allegations related to donations to Seongnam FC, emphasizing, "Unlike the Mir Foundation, Seongnam FC is a city-owned enterprise, so privatization is impossible. Since Seongnam FC is operated with the city budget, if its own revenue increases, tax support decreases, benefiting Seongnam City." He added, "No one can profit privately through Seongnam FC, and no one has actually done so," and stated, "All administrative actions by Seongnam City to attract businesses were lawful and legitimate."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He further criticized the prosecution's biased investigation, saying, "The prosecution gives a free pass to the '50 Billion Club' and does not investigate Kim Gun-hee's Deutsch Motors, but they have deployed 60 prosecutors to thoroughly investigate Lee Jae-myung for a year. This is a 'judicial hunt' that continues until they catch their target."

Addressing the assembly members, he appealed, "The decision the National Assembly makes today will determine the fate of democracy in the Republic of Korea," urging rejection. However, even many members of his own party turned their backs. While they did not actively vote 'yes' to approve the arrest warrant, they did not cooperate in ensuring an overwhelming 'rejection' through invalid or abstention votes.

The vote counting process to reject Lee's arrest warrant was also not smooth. The interpretation of some invalid votes differed among the counting committee members, causing the counting to be delayed by more than an hour.