Jang Donghyuk: "Yongin Gap Organization Chair Runoff Must Be Revoted... Voting Rights Violation Must Be Corrected"

Jang Donghyeok, leader of the People Power Party, said on Oct. 12 regarding the results of the runoff election for chair of the party organization committee in Yongin Gap, Gyeonggi Province, where questions arose over voting rights for party members, “We concluded that we have no choice but to hold the runoff election again.” He added, “This is a matter of election fairness, unrelated to the number of party members who were unable to vote.”

Jang Donghyeok, leader of the People Power Party, attends a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on Oct. 12, 2026. Photo by Yoon Dongju

In a Facebook post that afternoon, Jang said, “Even if candidates Yoon Jaebok and Yang Hyangja agreed to check the results of the automated response system (ARS) vote, I believe we must correct the situation if a system problem infringed on party members’ voting rights.”

Earlier, on Oct. 8, the party’s Special Committee for Strengthening Party Organizations held the runoff election for chair of the Yongin Gap organization committee using an ARS system. Yoon won the runoff, defeating Yang, an incumbent Supreme Council member. However, reports said that about 40 party members eligible to vote were unable to participate in the ARS vote.

In response, the People Power Party’s Supreme Council withheld approval of the runoff results. Park Seonghoon, the party’s chief spokesperson, told reporters on Oct. 12, “We confirmed that, during the ARS survey conducted over the holiday period, a particular telecommunications company identified the calls as spam, resulting in numerous instances in which they were not delivered.”

Addressing the need for a revote, Jang said, “This is a matter of election fairness, regardless of the number of party members who were unable to vote or whether that affected the primary results. I will make sure we handle things more carefully and thoroughly so this never happens again.”

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