Song Young-gil: "Was Jeong Cheong-rae's Leadership Right to Oppose Preferential Voting Then but Wrong Now?"

Song Young-gil, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who is running for party leadership, criticized former leader Jeong Cheong-rae and pro-Jeong Supreme Council members for opposing the preferential voting system.

Song Younggil, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is entering the party's central office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 8th to declare his candidacy for party leader. 2026.7.8 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

On July 12th, Song stated on Facebook regarding the introduction of the preferential voting system in the party leader election, "Halting the party's procedures for or against a specific candidate is a denial of party members' sovereignty."

He added, "The preferential voting system was decided by the Party Affairs Committee in July last year, and this National Convention Preparation Committee has also re-approved it."

He continued, "Under the same leadership, the Gyeonggi Provincial Party chair was elected using this method, and the National Assembly Speaker election was also held this way," questioning, "Was it right then but wrong now?"

The preferential voting system allows voters to select three main candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority, the votes for the lowest-ranked candidate are redistributed to the voters' second-choice candidates, and the final winner is determined based on these combined totals.

The National Convention Preparation Committee has decided to introduce the preferential voting system as a runoff method, but a decision by the Supreme Council has been delayed due to conflict between the pro-Jeong and pro-Myung non-mainstream factions.

Song stated, "If the Supreme Council reverses the decision of the National Convention Preparation Committee as some argue, will party members accept it?" He continued, "I call on the Supreme Council. Please make your decision from the perspective of party members."

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