"Even a Child from Samcheok Would Know... Criticism of the People Power Party Primary Rules by Former Statistics Korea Chief"

Yoo Kyung-joon, Former PPP Lawmaker, Criticizes on Social Media
"Reverse Selection Prevention Polls Are No Different from Party Member Polls"

Former People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Yoo Kyung-joon, who previously served as the head of Statistics Korea, criticized the PPP on the 10th for including a reverse selection prevention clause in the presidential candidate primary rules, calling it an "absurd primary rule."

On the same day, Yoo posted on social media (SNS), "They introduced reverse selection into the primary rules, set the runoff vote to a two-person contest, and added the unnecessary explanation that 'the runoff vote must exceed 50% to have democratic legitimacy.' Instead, it would be a sure way to increase the chances of victory to find a candidate who receives more than 50% through an open primary, that is, a complete national primary."

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Kyung-joon. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

He sharply criticized the presidential primary rules adopted by the PPP Emergency Response Committee as "absurd primary rules" and "nonsense lies."

Introducing the definition of an open primary, where ordinary citizens directly participate in selecting candidates, Yoo pointed out, "In recent years, the PPP, which has fallen into ruin by distancing itself from public sentiment with primary rules that rely 100% on party members, should expand the participation of ordinary citizens in elections, a strength of the open primary, if it wants to be saved and increase its chances of winning the next presidential election even slightly. Isn't this a reality that even a child in Samcheok would understand?" He added, "If you are going to use primary rules with a reverse selection prevention clause that sacrifices extensibility, don't deceive the public with false terms like open primary or national primary opinion polls. We all know from experience that these primary rules are no different from party member opinion polls."

He then referred to the fact that during the last party convention, former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon received similar support rates from both party members and opinion polls.