Shin Dong-geun "Amendment to Party Constitution, Overwhelming Support from Democratic Party Supporters"

"Election is the flower of political parties, their basis for existence and reason for being"

Shin Dong-geun, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's amendment of the party constitution to nominate candidates for next year's Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, Shin Dong-geun, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, predicted on the 3rd that "(criticism of the party constitution amendment) will not have a significant impact in the mid to long term."

On the same day, Shin appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and acknowledged, "(The amendment) will have a gradually negative effect on public opinion to some extent," but added, "Although there is an apologetic aspect toward the moderate voters, Democratic Party supporters overwhelmingly approve of it."

He continued, "In fact, the public already knew that both ruling and opposition parties would field mayoral candidates. This is just a decision to realize that," and said, "Opposition party supporters will strongly oppose it, but since our party supporters agree, I would like to apologize once again for this part and explain, apologize, and seek understanding from the public."

He further emphasized, "Elections are the flower of political parties and the basis of their existence and reason for being," adding, "In the case of the Busan and Seoul mayoral elections, since they occurred due to our party's mayor's fault, we feel very apologetic to the public, but as a responsible ruling party, we had no choice but to make a choice and decision respecting the will of all party members."

Choi In-ho, the senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 2nd at the National Assembly Communication Hall that "86% of all party members approved" the result of the party-wide vote to decide on the nomination for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections in April next year and the amendment of the party constitution. / Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding some opposition claims that President Moon Jae-in, who created the amended clause when he was party leader, should express his position directly, Shin responded, "A public party must respect voters' choices above all, and the opposition's remarks are excessive political attacks," adding, "Since this was decided by the current executive regardless of the president's intention, the leadership must take full responsibility."

On criticisms that the 'all-member vote' was invalid due to not meeting the valid voter turnout threshold, he drew a clear line, saying, "Even if the all-member vote is rejected, it may have some influence later, but the official decision-making process is ultimately made by the Supreme Council, the Party Affairs Committee, and especially the Central Committee," and "Therefore, since the Central Committee makes the decision, it cannot be seen as a procedural defect or flaw."

According to the Democratic Party on the previous day (2nd), 211,804 out of 803,959 eligible party members (26.35%) participated in the all-member vote on the party constitution amendment. Among them, 86.64% voted in favor.

According to the problematic current Article 96, Paragraph 2 of the party constitution, if an elected official belonging to the party loses their position due to serious misconduct such as corruption and a by-election is held, the party does not nominate a candidate for that electoral district.

According to the party constitution principle, the Democratic Party cannot field candidates in the April by-elections next year, which are held due to the fault of party-affiliated local leaders such as the late Park Won-soon, former Seoul mayor, and Oh Keo-don, former Busan mayor, amid sexual misconduct allegations. Notably, this 'no nomination principle' is a clause created in 2015 when President Moon was the leader of the Democratic Party.

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