Democratic Party Holds Late-Night Supreme Council Meeting to Cancel Son Hun-mo's Nomination
Son Hun-mo Claims Supporters Sent Texts, Not Double Voting, Amid Public Opinion Campaign
Son Hun-mo, a candidate who was nominated by the Democratic Party of Korea for the Suncheon-si, Gwangyang-si, Gokseong-gun, and Gurye-gun Gap electoral district but had his nomination canceled, strongly protested. He stated that the allegations of election fraud are not true.
On the 17th, Son held a press conference during the late-night Supreme Council meeting regarding the cancellation of his nomination, explaining, "I received shocking news today, but I did not commit any election fraud." He said, "During a worship service, I only captured and posted a general public opinion poll participation message sent by a supporter to a group chat, but local reporters stirred public opinion as if I had voted twice," adding, "At the time this photo was posted, I never received any phone calls from the polling agency."
He was suspected of participating in a citizen survey through a public opinion poll in addition to the party members' vote on the first day of the primary and encouraging others to participate. After Son’s nomination was canceled, Kim Moon-su, who became the runner-up and received the nomination, stated in a press release, "On the 10th at 12:03 PM, Son captured a screenshot of a mobile phone screen showing a general public opinion poll number received, and at 12:10 PM, posted a message saying 'Citizen vote completed' in a group chat with about 1,340 members," claiming, "Democratic Party members are not allowed to participate in the general vote according to regulations, but he violated this rule, manipulated and distorted public opinion, and encouraged participation by informing the group chat with about 1,340 members."
In a separate statement, he also explained the circumstances of posting the voting certification shot on SNS, saying, "It is logically impossible to respond to a public opinion poll that lasts 4 minutes and 10 seconds while the pastor is watching and all the congregation is paying attention," and added, "If he had voted twice by himself, there should be a phone number from the polling agency calling him, but there is none."
Son also raised issues regarding the fact-checking by the Democratic Party’s Ethics Inspection Team. He said, "They say the ethics inspector came down to Suncheon to investigate, but I was never asked to meet or told to disclose my phone usage details," adding, "I only received a request to submit a written explanation." However, he added that this written explanation was not even delivered to the Supreme Council.
In relation to this, Son announced that he will hold a one-person protest and file an injunction to invalidate the cancellation decision.
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