Professor Kim Narrowly Loses 22nd General Election by 2.09 Percentage Points
Dismisses President Yoon Supporters' Election Fraud Claims as "Nonsense"
"No Self-Reflection Even After Crushing Defeat, Only Blaming Others"
Professor Kim Geun-sik of the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Gyeongnam National University (Chairman of the People Power Party’s Songpa-byeong District Committee in Seoul) addressed the election fraud claims circulating among supporters of President Yoon Seok-yeol, saying, “If what you say is true, wouldn’t I be the most aggrieved?” and “If I say it’s not true, why are you getting upset and falling for lies?” Professor Kim narrowly lost to Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party by 3,286 votes (2.09 percentage points) in last year’s 22nd general election.
Professor Kim Geun-sik, Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, Gyeongnam National University. Yonhap News Agency
On the 2nd, Professor Kim referred to a YouTuber who claimed election fraud on social media (SNS), stating, “If there were any credibility at all, the 53 victims he mentions would be the very people who could become members of the National Assembly immediately once election fraud is proven, so they would be the first to come forward and support it,” and pointed out, “None of the 53 say they believe in election fraud after watching the YouTube video.” He dismissed the election fraud theory as a baseless rumor, adding, “Even the parties with the clearest vested interests are not convinced, so it’s nonsense.”
He argued, “The claim is that pre-prepared Democratic Party ballots were regularly inserted at each polling station during early voting to manipulate the results, but even if there was only one person per polling station, there would need to be 10 accomplices at the 10 community centers in Songpa-byeong alone. For just 53 constituencies, that would mean at least hundreds of people involved in inserting early voting ballots,” and added, “Even though the president went as far as declaring martial law, not a single person involved in inserting ballots has come forward.”
He also explained, “Our country’s vote counting involves manual verification of each candidate’s votes after automatic sorting (not electronic counting),” and said, “On the day of counting, observers from each party personally witness the opening of all ballot boxes and the final count, and the results are then reported to the election commission.” He continued, “Our observers on site have confirmed twice that the numbers they verified matched the election commission’s final numbers,” and stated, “The election fraud rumor is a blatant falsehood and incitement.”
Furthermore, he said, “The greatest harm of the election fraud rumor is that by blaming others instead of myself, even after a crushing defeat in the election, there is absolutely no reflection or change,” and criticized, “The martial law incident is pathetic because the president himself fell into the delusion of election fraud and tried to mobilize the military to seize control of the election commission. It’s truly a topic for international headlines.”
Regarding the recent rise of the People Power Party in multiple opinion polls, Professor Kim described it as an “optical illusion” on the 31st of last month. He said, “We must not be mistaken into thinking that supporting martial law and being certain of election fraud is the prevailing trend,” and explained, “Recent polls reflect conservative voters angered by the situation of the president’s possible detention, as well as moderate public opinion that is anti-Democratic Party and anti-Lee Jae-myung, under the perception that Yoon Seok-yeol is inevitably on his way out. It does not mean support for martial law or election fraud rumors.”
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