Prison Faction Formation and Candidacy... What Are Song Young-gil and the Sonamu Party's Results?

Democratic Party Candidate Jo In-cheol Trails by Large Margin
Sonamu Party Shows Minimal Presence in Proportional Representation Election

In the 22nd National Assembly election, Song Young-gil, the leader of the Sonamu Party who ran for office from Gwangju Seo-gu Gap while imprisoned, was defeated by Jo In-cheol, the candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, by a large margin.

Song Young-gil, leader of the Sonamudang, giving a prison broadcast speech.
[Image source=KBS broadcast screen capture]

As of 9 a.m. on the 11th, with a 100% vote count in Seo-gu Gap, candidate Jo In-cheol was elected with 68.42% of the votes, while leader Song Young-gil received 14,292 votes, accounting for only 17.38% out of 83,480 votes. However, this number is higher than the combined votes of the other two candidates in Seo-gu Gap: Ha Heon-sik of the People Power Party with 7,498 votes and Kang Seung-cheol of the Progressive Party with 4,174 votes. Leader Song had no opportunity to meet voters directly due to the denial of bail. Despite being incarcerated, Song’s campaign was conducted by his wife Nam Young-shin and son Song Joo-hwan, and he secured over 15% of the vote, allowing him to receive full reimbursement of election expenses.

Earlier, in January of this year, Song was arrested and indicted on charges of distributing envelopes containing 660.5 million KRW to party officials at the 2021 Democratic Party convention and receiving a total of 763 million KRW in political funds through an external organization, the nonprofit corporation Research Institute on Livelihood Issues. After his arrest, Song founded the Sonamu Party and declared his candidacy for the Gwangju Seo-gap district in the April 10 general election. He requested bail at the end of February, but the court rejected it at the end of last month, citing concerns over evidence tampering.

Also, as of 9 a.m. on the same day, with a 99.95% vote count for proportional representation nationwide, the People’s Future Party is likely to be allocated 18 proportional seats. The Democratic United Party is expected to secure 13 seats, and the Party for National Innovation 12 seats. The Reform Party is expected to have two proportional representatives elected. However, other third-party parties such as the New Future Party and the Green Justice Party recorded less than 3% of the vote, making it difficult for their proportional candidates to be elected. In particular, the Sonamu Party, which was formed while its leader was imprisoned, garnered only 0.43% of the vote, leading to interpretations that it failed to make a presence in the proportional representation election.

Meanwhile, on the 4th, in a recorded election broadcast speech at KBS Gwangju Broadcasting Headquarters from prison, leader Song Young-gil claimed, “I was subjected to targeted investigations following Cho Kuk and Lee Jae-myung,” and asserted, “My election from prison will mark the end of the prosecution’s terror politics characterized by targeted and separate investigations.” He said, “The Democratic Party with 180 seats could not even impeach former Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, so will impeaching the party by electing all Democratic candidates in Gwangju be possible?” He added, “I will turn Gwangju politics, which has become peripheral due to the absence of influential politicians, into the center of South Korea.” He appealed, “If you send me and the eight proportional candidates of the Sonamu Party to the National Assembly, I will impeach the Yoon Seok-yeol administration within a year,” and urged, “Please hold the hand of someone like me who is imprisoned due to political retaliation by the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution dictatorship.”