Online Voting Results of Seoul Area Party Members
Cumulative Vote Share Also Drops to 3rd Place
At the joint speech event of the Seoul City Party Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 17th, a strong backlash erupted following candidate Jeong Bong-ju's 'Myeongpari' (Lee Jae-myung promotion) remarks. He, who was in first place in the early stages of the election and maintained second place in the middle, fell to sixth place in Seoul and his cumulative vote share also dropped to third place. Candidate Jeong, who was clearly in the winning zone at the beginning of the election, now faces the risk of failing to enter the Supreme Council depending on the final results of the party convention.
On that day, candidate Jeong received 8.6% of the votes in the Seoul regional primary for Supreme Council candidates, placing sixth. He also ranked sixth with only 9.9% in the overseas Korean vote. This is a completely different pattern from when candidate Jeong consistently held first or second place. As a result, candidate Jeong's cumulative ranking in the online voting by party members also fell to third place, behind candidates Kim Min-seok and Kim Byung-joo.
Candidate Jeong secured a dominant first place in the late-stage Supreme Council primary. However, after openly expressing support for candidate Kim Min-seok, who is running for Supreme Council under Lee Jae-myung’s leadership candidacy, he showed signs of wavering. Although he maintained a second-place position afterward, his remarks became controversial, leading to a sharp decline in his support within the party.
Earlier, former lawmaker Park Won-seok caused controversy in a radio interview by stating that candidate Jeong was "very upset about former leader Lee Jae-myung’s (party leader candidate) election interference," and that "(candidate Jeong) said the Supreme Council is a unanimous decision system. Just wait and see what I do." Although a press conference was held afterward to clarify these remarks, it sparked even greater backlash. He mentioned, "I will root out those who use former leader Lee Jae-myung’s name to engage in parasitic politics and play the role of power brokers," referring to the group promoting Lee Jae-myung.
Following the so-called 'Myeongpari' remarks, there was strong opposition within the party. Although he explained his statements through social media (SNS), public backlash only intensified.
At the joint speech venue, some supporters jeered, facing strong opposition. Through his speech, he mentioned phrases like "division is certain defeat" and "a true fighter," referring to his role, but party members openly showed their rejection by jeering throughout his speech.
On the other hand, candidate Jeon Hyun-hee’s vote share surged in the Supreme Council primary. She ranked second with 17.4% in the Seoul primary and rose to fifth place, within the winning zone, with a cumulative vote share of 12.8%. On the 14th, during a hearing investigating the impeachment reasons for prosecutor Kim Young-cheol by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, she caused a major stir by stating, “Kim Geon-hee is a murderer. Kim Geon-hee and Yoon Seok-youl killed him.” On this day as well, candidate Jeon referred to the ruling party’s proposal to expel her from the National Assembly during her speech, continuing her offensive against the government and ruling party by saying, "Who is the disgrace? Who should apologize? The People Power Party and Yongsan power, who cover up the truth about the young Director Kim’s death and blame the opposition?"
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party will hold a nationwide party member convention tomorrow at the KSPO Dome in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, where the next leadership will be finally elected based on 56% party members’ votes, 14% delegates’ votes, and 30% general public opinion polls. The ARS (automatic response system) voting for party members who could not participate in the online vote, delegate voting, and general public opinion poll results will be disclosed all at once at the party convention venue.
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