Hardline Pro-Lee Jae-myung Faction Wants 'Endorsement'... Democratic Party Faces Rising Conflict Over Primary Rules

Committee Holds Third Meeting to Discuss Primary Rules
Disagreements Over National Primary vs. National Participation Primary
Hardline Lee Supporters Demand 80% Party Member Vote
Anti-Lee Faction: "Primary Rules Must Be Discussed Among Candidates"

The Democratic Party of Korea is experiencing conflict over the rules for the presidential candidate primary. Hardline party members supporting former leader Lee Jae-myung are demanding an increase in the proportion of votes from party members with rights to establish party sovereignty. On the other hand, the anti-Lee faction (Bi-myeong, meaning non-Lee Jae-myung supporters), who advocate for an open primary (completely national primary), strongly oppose the party leadership's unilateral attempt to decide the primary rules without discussion among the candidates.

The Special Committee for Preparing the Presidential Primary Rules, which decides the Democratic Party's primary rules, held its third meeting on the morning of the 11th. Two meetings had been held previously but no conclusion was reached. The Democratic Party is reportedly discussing between the 'National Primary' method, where the general public participates as the electorate in the primary vote, and the 'National Participation Primary' method, which selects candidates based on 50% general public opinion polls and 50% party members' votes. Both methods are principles specified in Article 88 of the Democratic Party's constitution.

The background of the conflict over the primary rules within the party is that the expected results vary greatly depending on the election method. The Democratic Party decided its presidential candidates using the 'National Primary' method in the 19th and 20th presidential elections. The National Primary automatically grants voting rights to the party's national delegates and party members with rights, and additionally allows the general public, ordinary party members, and overseas Koreans who apply as the electorate to vote with one person, one vote. This method is close to the fully national primary system (open primary) advocated by the anti-Lee presidential candidates, which involves 100% general public voting.

The problem arises as hardline party members supporting Lee Jae-myung are advocating for the 'National Participation Primary' method, which secures up to 50% of the vote weight from party members with rights. They argue that the National Primary system has low party member representation and, above all, a high risk of reverse voting. Reverse voting refers to the act of members of the opposing party deliberately voting for a candidate with weak competitiveness in the primary to increase the chances of their preferred candidate in the general election. Some hardline party members even propose raising the proportion of party member votes to 80%.

These hardline supporters are wary of repeating the painful memory of the third round of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate electorate vote in October 2021. At that time, candidate Lee Jae-myung, who was expected to win overwhelmingly, received only 28.3% of the vote in the third round with 300,000 voters participating, while candidate Lee Nak-yeon won decisively with 62.37%. Lee Jae-myung was ultimately selected as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate by a narrow margin of 0.29 percentage points, just surpassing the majority, but there was much debate over the final result. The political consensus was that Lee's Daejang-dong scandal was a setback, but Lee's supporters suspected the result was due to reverse voting by the opposing party.

Former Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is leaving the press conference room after completing the 'Vision Declaration Ceremony and Campaign Schedule Announcement,' introducing the blueprint for governance, at the National Assembly Communication Center on the 11th. 2025.4.11 Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Anti-Lee faction backlash... Risk of failure even for 'National Primary' after 'Open Primary'

If the Democratic Party ultimately adopts the 'National Participation Primary,' backlash from anti-Lee candidates is expected to grow.

The anti-Lee faction advocates for the open primary method, which involves 100% general public voting, but depending on the situation, they are also keeping the existing 'National Primary' method open. This is because they believe that voting by the 'National Participation Primary' method would only widen the gap against former leader Lee's overwhelming support base within the party.

The anti-Lee faction is clearly unsettled by the party leadership's apparent emphasis on the 'National Participation Primary' rather than the National Primary. Former lawmaker Kim Doo-kwan stated about the primary rules, "I propose a 'completely open primary' method where anyone aged 18 or older, including delegates, party members with rights, and ordinary party members, can participate and vote on-site," adding, "The finalization of the primary rules must be agreed upon by the candidates, as was the case in the 18th presidential primary."

The camp of Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon also held an emergency press conference that morning, saying, "There are multiple reports that the party's special rules committee is moving to eliminate the national electorate," and raised their voice, "If the National Primary is destroyed under vague pretexts such as concerns about reverse voting, we will never accept it."

Before entering full discussions on the primary rules, the Democratic Party firmly stated that it cannot accept the open primary method. Park Beom-gye, chairman of the Democratic Party's election management committee, said, "There is no doubt that the open primary is a very useful method of selection," but added, "The reason we cannot fully accept the open primary is that it somewhat conflicts with our party's 'party member sovereignty' principle."

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