[Breaking] Democratic Party to Field By-Election Candidates... 86.6% of All Members Vote in Favor

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeon Jin-young and Kang Na-hum] The Democratic Party of Korea concluded on the 2nd to field candidates in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections scheduled for April next year through a party-wide vote. The April by-elections next year are being held due to the responsibility of Democratic Party-affiliated local leaders, including the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, who faced sexual harassment allegations.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Choi In-ho, the chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party, held a briefing at the National Assembly that morning to announce these results. According to Chief Spokesperson Choi, among the 211,804 eligible party members who participated in the vote conducted from the 31st of last month to the 1st of this month, 86.64% supported the amendment of the party constitution and the nomination process.

Accordingly, the Democratic Party plans to amend the current party constitution, which states, "If an elected official affiliated with the party loses their position due to serious misconduct such as corruption, the party will not recommend a candidate for the by-election in that electoral district," by adding a proviso that "this can be otherwise decided by a party-wide vote."

Chief Spokesperson Choi emphasized, "The high voter turnout despite the short period reflects the party members' interest in the by-elections," and added, "The overwhelming approval rate of 86.6% expresses the party members' will to nominate candidates in the by-elections."

He further stated, "This is full support for the decision by Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon and the leadership that nominating candidates in this by-election and receiving the citizens' choice aligns better with responsible politics."

After the briefing, when asked by reporters about concerns that putting difficult party issues to a party-wide vote might be problematic, he replied, "Since this is an important matter, asking the party members, who are the owners of the party, for their opinion is the most rational and official decision," and added, "In the future, when there are important matters related to party affairs, there will be processes to ask the party members' opinions."

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