PPP Files Complaint Against President Lee for Election Law Violation...Jang Says "Serious Breach of Neutrality Obligation"

Democratic Party Responds: "People Power Party's Claims Are Unreasonable"

The People Power Party filed a complaint against President Lee Jae-myung on May 29, alleging a violation of the Public Official Election Act in relation to the previous day's early voting controversy. The party also submitted a complaint against a Central Election Commission official at the polling station where President Lee cast his early vote, citing violations of the Public Official Election Act and dereliction of duty under the Criminal Act.

Jang Dong-hyuk, Standing Election Countermeasures Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, along with lawmakers Park Joon-tae, Kim Jang-gyeom, and Choi Bo-yoon, held a press conference on the 30th in front of the Civil Complaints Office at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul, before submitting a complaint accusing President Lee Jae-myung of violating the confidentiality of voting under the Public Official Election Act. Photo by Yonhap News

On the afternoon of May 30, party leadership including Jang Dong-hyuk, Chairman, and Jeong Hee-yong, Secretary General, visited the Civil Complaints Office at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to file complaints against President Lee and the relevant Central Election Commission official. At a press conference before submitting the complaint, Chairman Jang emphasized, "The core issue is not that Lee Jae-myung stepped outside the polling booth and showed his marked ballot paper. That part is not the main point."

Chairman Jang explained, "The fundamental issue is that the President appealed for support for a specific party or candidate in front of TV cameras using his marked ballot paper. Furthermore, he showed the ballot paper—which should not have been shown—to an election commission staff member at the site. These two reasons constitute clear violations of the Public Official Election Act, leaving no room for interpretation."

Jang continued, "Most importantly, as President, he has seriously violated the obligation of neutrality during elections. The election commission's claim that he stepped out of the ballot counting area, not the polling station, and thus did not violate the law, misses the fundamental point." He added, "Claiming that there was no intent on President Lee's part is an utterly illogical and contextless, irresponsible response."

Regarding President Lee's post on his social networking service (SNS) earlier that morning—stating, "Abstaining from voting is not neutrality; it is siding with those who harm our lives and community"—Jang said, "While the President can post messages encouraging citizens to vote on his SNS, posting messages explicitly asking people to vote for the Democratic Party is also a violation of the obligation of electoral and political neutrality." He further stated that this constitutes "a clear ground for impeachment."

In contrast, the Democratic Party stated that the controversy surrounding the early voting was simply a minor incident at the polling place and posed no real issue. Jo Seung-rae, Secretary General of the Democratic Party, said at a press briefing the previous day, "It seems there was an issue with the ink smudging during President Lee's voting process. The People Power Party's claims are baseless."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.