My Way of Geoye... Running for Seoul and Busan Mayor Candidates

86% Overwhelming Approval in All-Member Vote
President Moon Abolished No-Candidacy Principle During Party Leader Tenure
Lee Nak-yeon "Apologizes to the People Again"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Kang Nahum and Jeon Jinyoung] The Democratic Party of Korea has finally amended its party constitution to field candidates in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections scheduled for April next year.

Choi In-ho, the Democratic Party’s chief spokesperson, announced on the 2nd, "The Democratic Party conducted a party-wide vote from October 31 to November 1 to decide whether to nominate candidates for next year’s by-elections through an amendment to the party constitution. The results showed 86.64% in favor and 13.36% opposed."

Choi said, "The overwhelming approval rate reflects the will of all party members that candidates should be nominated in the by-elections," adding, "It is a full endorsement of Representative Lee Nak-yeon’s view that nominating candidates in these by-elections and being chosen aligns with responsible politics."

Accordingly, the principle of 'no nomination' due to the party’s responsibility will be abolished after five years since its introduction. The current Article 96, Paragraph 2 of the party constitution, which states, "If an elected official belonging to the party loses their position due to serious misconduct such as corruption, no candidate shall be recommended for the corresponding electoral district in the by-election," has been nullified by the addition of a proviso allowing it to be "otherwise decided by a party-wide vote."

The aftermath of this vote is expected to be significant. Since the responsibility for the by-elections lies with the Democratic Party and the party itself is overturning the party constitution originally created by President Moon Jae-in during his tenure as party leader, public opinion, including among moderate voters, is likely to worsen. There are also criticisms that the party used the 'party-wide vote' to mobilize loyal party members to justify the legitimacy of candidate nominations.

However, considering the upcoming political issues such as the presidential election, some voices argue that the party-wide vote was an unavoidable choice for the Democratic Party. Especially in Seoul, which must be defended to secure regime continuity, losing the Seoul mayoral seat to the opposition would weaken the momentum for regime renewal.

From Representative Lee Nak-yeon’s personal perspective, this could disrupt his presidential plans. Recently, his approval ratings for the presidential election have stagnated within a narrow range. Moreover, the so-called 'Bu-eong-i' (Owl) faction, a core pro-Moon (pro-Moon Jae-in) group, is showing signs of consolidating power and challenging him within the party. In fact, this group plans to establish a mammoth think tank tentatively named the 'Democracy 4.0 Institute,' which will gather party lawmakers and experts ahead of the by-elections and presidential primary, aiming to devise a pro-Moon-centered ruling plan.

Upon receiving the voting results, Lee Nak-yeon, the Democratic Party leader, repeatedly expressed apologies to voters on the same day. At the Supreme Council meeting, he said, "Even though the will of the party members has been gathered, it does not absolve the Democratic Party of the fault for causing administrative vacancies in Seoul and Busan and holding by-elections," adding, "I apologize again to the citizens of Seoul and Busan as well as to the people."

He continued, "I also apologize again to the victims," emphasizing, "I understand well that for this apology to be sincere, it must be followed by action. The Democratic Party has newly activated the Ethics Inspection Team and today opened the Ethics Reporting Center and Gender Violence Reporting Counseling Center to investigate and take follow-up measures regarding sexual misconduct and corruption involving elected officials and key party positions."

He added, "We will also strengthen gender-sensitivity education. We will ensure such wrongdoings never happen again," and said, "The Democratic Party will find morally upright and competent candidates through thorough verification and fair primaries and present them to the voters." He concluded, "We will ensure that citizens can freely choose candidates and feel rewarded by the results."

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