PPP's Yongin Gap Primary Sparks Shouting Match: "Full Rerun" vs. "Undermining Party System"

The People Power Party leadership clashed on Oct. 15 over the mismanagement of the primary for the chair of the party’s organizational committee in Yongin Gap, Gyeonggi Province. Supreme Council member Yang Hyang-ja, who was directly involved, said, “There should be a complete rerun,” while Secretary-General Jung Hee-yong countered, “Why are you undermining the party’s system now after saying at the time that you would accept the result?”

Yonhap News Agency

At a Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of Oct. 15, People Power Party Supreme Council member Yang Hyang-ja said, “If we apply the principle from the Olympic Park incident—the shortage of ballots during the ninth nationwide local elections—to this situation, all the primaries held this time should be started over from the beginning.”

On Oct. 8, the People Power Party held a runoff for the chair of its Yongin Gap organizational committee using an automated telephone voting system (ARS). Yoon Jae-bok, a candidate close to party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, defeated Yang, a sitting Supreme Council member. However, 44 party members were unable to vote because of a problem with the telecommunications provider during the voting process.

In response, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok decided to rerun the runoff, but Yang has called for a complete rerun of the election. Some members of the party’s non-mainstream faction have also raised concerns about problems with the preliminary primaries, or cutoffs, for organizational committee chairs in other districts.

On the matter, Yang said, “There have been many reports that ARS calls did not reach voters in other districts as well. Would rerunning the vote only in Yongin Gap—and only the runoff—resolve this situation?” She added, “This incident will reveal whether the People Power Party has the qualifications and capabilities to lead the protest at Olympic Park.”

After Yang publicly voiced her criticism, Secretary-General Jung Hee-yong, who oversees the party’s operations, also pushed back. Jung said, “The party’s Organization Strengthening Special Committee recommended a revote at the time, but didn’t you personally suggest opening it up, saying you would not harm party members, and say that you would accept the result?”

Jung continued, “After saying you would accept the result, how can you now claim, based on something that did not happen, that there were problems with the first round too and that it should be held again? A Supreme Council member should not make statements rejecting the party’s system.”

As the clash continued, Policy Committee Chair Im I-ja said, “Above all, Leader Jang Dong-hyeok has strongly advocated restoring the right to vote. System errors at a telecommunications provider can happen to any political party, and I hope people will refrain from making remarks that suggest the leadership itself made an error.”

Meanwhile, candidate Yoon Jae-bok said in a phone interview on Oct. 15, “I would have won even without the 44 votes, but I accepted a revote in the runoff in keeping with the principle that no one’s right to vote should be infringed. If there had been a problem with the first round, it should have been raised before we agreed to the runoff. I cannot accept a demand for a complete rerun at this point.”

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