Democratic Party Gwangyang·Gokseong·Gurye Primary, Candidate An Jun-no 'Opposition'

Ahn Jun-no: "Presidential Name Ban in Primary Polls Violated by Certain Candidate... Beneficial Effect"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] In the Jeonnam Gwangyang·Gokseong·Gurye constituency, where the Democratic Party of Korea's preliminary candidates for the general election are fiercely competing, allegations of unfairness have arisen.

The Democratic Party of Korea had established a policy prohibiting the use of titles containing the names of former and current presidents such as Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in during the candidate selection process for this general election. However, claims have been raised that this rule was violated in the suitability opinion polls conducted for the primary election.

The Democratic Party's Nomination Management Committee held its 14th meeting on the 23rd and confirmed preliminary candidates Kwon Hyang-yeop and Seo Dong-yong as the party's primary candidates for the Gwangyang·Gokseong·Gurye constituency, while excluding preliminary candidates Park Geun-pyo and Ahn Jun-no from the primary.

In response to this decision, preliminary candidate Ahn Jun-no held a press conference at the Gwangyang City Hall briefing room on the 26th, stating, "The Democratic Party's Nomination Committee excluded me from the primary candidates without any clear reason," and urged, "The central party should clearly disclose why I was excluded from the primary, along with the detailed scores and calculation criteria for the candidate selection."

He also criticized the suitability survey conducted on the 22nd, lamenting, "Certain candidates were surveyed using titles containing President Moon Jae-in's name, while I was labeled with the title 'Standing Auditor of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency,' which I had never submitted for the opinion poll."

Regarding his exclusion despite being eligible for a political newcomer bonus, Ahn said, "The Democratic Party set the nomination evaluation criteria as identity (15%), contribution (10%), legislative activity ability (10%), morality (15%), electability (40%), and interview (10%). I am a political newcomer eligible for a 20% bonus, yet I was cut off."

He added, "I suspect this was done to exclude me from the primary candidates," and emphasized, "If demands for disclosure of detailed scores and calculation criteria are not accepted, I will never remain passive."

Meanwhile, on the 11th, the Democratic Party held its first Central Election Commission meeting to manage the general election primaries and passed the 'Representative Career Allowance Criteria Guidelines,' which fundamentally block references to specific presidents. This decision was made following claims that using the names of former and current presidents in opinion polls could cause differences of up to nearly 20 percentage points compared to when such names are not used.

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