Lee Hye-hoon: "Democratic Party Throws Moon Jae-in's Innovation into the Trash"

Former Future United Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon is moving after attending the 4th private seminar hosted by Better World on the afternoon of August 25 at Mapo Hyundai Building in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seul-gi] The Democratic Party of Korea announced that it will amend its party constitution to field candidates in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections scheduled for April next year. In response, former Future United Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon criticized on the 3rd, calling it "throwing Moon Jae-in-style innovation into the trash."

In an interview with KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' on the same day, Lee said, "The people gave many votes in the election because there was a promise of Moon Jae-in-style innovation. But when it becomes disadvantageous for them, throwing those promises into the trash is something the people will ultimately judge," he said.

He added, "The party created its constitution with the intention that if an elected official from the party loses their position due to serious misconduct such as corruption, the party would not nominate a candidate in the corresponding electoral district for the by-election. Didn't they promote this a lot?" He continued, "I don't think the public will look favorably on the Democratic Party changing even the party constitution and overturning the promises they proudly called Moon Jae-in-style innovation," reiterating his criticism.

He went on, "Moreover, in the process of overturning that promise, they said they would amend the party constitution through a party constitution vote, but when the results came out, only 26% actually voted," he said. "Not only did it fail to reach the majority vote of 50%, but with only about half that number, 26%, voting, this cannot be seen as a decisive voting result," he added.

Earlier, the Democratic Party announced that it would amend the party constitution to field candidates in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections in April next year. According to the Democratic Party, a vote among party members was held over two days from October 31, with 86.64% of voters supporting the amendment of the party constitution and nomination for the by-elections.

However, controversy arose over the validity of the vote as it was pointed out that the total party member vote did not meet the required turnout. According to party rules and regulations, for a total party member vote to be valid, at least one-third (33.3%) of all party members must participate, but the final turnout for this vote was only 26.35%.

As the controversy grew, the Democratic Party's Public Relations Office explained in a text notice on the same day, "The total party member vote conducted over two days from October 31 to November 1 was a vote carried out by the party leader, Supreme Council members, and party leadership by their authority, using the mobile voting platform established by the party to gather opinions from party members." They added, "The regulations specified in 'Party Rules No. 2, Chapter 9, Total Party Member Vote' pertain to total party member votes requested by party members and are separate provisions from the total party member vote conducted by the party last weekend."

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