Sangmin Lee: "The Election Commission Has Exclusive Authority to Decide... Maintains Position on 'Invalid Votes'"

"Acceptable to undergo judicial review externally, but must resolve through internal capabilities"

Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province and the Democratic Party of Korea's 20th presidential candidate, is listening to the primary election results together with candidate Lee Nak-yeon at the joint rally held at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 10th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] As the Lee Nak-yeon camp raised objections regarding the policy of invalidating votes in the primary election, Lee Sang-min, the chairman of the Democratic Party's Election Commission, stated, "The application or interpretation issues concerning Articles 59 and 60 have already been addressed by the Election Commission, and that position remains unchanged."

Chairman Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Hanpan Seungbu' on the night of the 11th and said, "There can be various perspectives and opinions on the party constitution and regulations," but added, "The Election Commission has exclusive decision-making authority. The Commission unanimously confirmed Articles 59 and 60 and has acted accordingly."

Earlier, the former leader Lee Nak-yeon’s side claimed, "If the party constitution and regulations are properly applied, candidate Lee Jae-myung’s vote share is 49.32%." Article 59, Paragraph 1 of the party regulations, which governs candidate withdrawal, states, "If a candidate withdraws during the primary process, votes for that candidate shall be treated as invalid."

The party Election Commission and the Lee Nak-yeon camp have differing interpretations on this matter. The Election Commission holds the position that votes for the "relevant candidate" are invalid, meaning all votes received by candidates Jeong Se-gyun and Kim Du-kwan are invalid. Meanwhile, the Lee Nak-yeon camp emphasizes the phrase "when a candidate withdraws," arguing that votes received before the candidate’s withdrawal remain valid. Candidate Jeong Se-gyun withdrew on September 13, and Kim Du-kwan on September 27; the votes they received before withdrawing were 23,731 and 4,411 respectively.

The former leader’s camp bases their argument on Article 60, Paragraph 1 of the party regulations, which states that "the Election Commission determines the winner by simply summing the publicly announced vote counts from the primary and declaring the candidate who received the majority of valid votes as the winner." They argue that since the votes received by Jeong Se-gyun and Kim Du-kwan before their withdrawal were already announced at each regional primary, these votes should be included in the final valid vote count.

Regarding this, Chairman Lee said, "In the primary process, the Election Commission holds exclusive authority over procedures and the final candidate selection," adding, "The Commission’s basic position remains as such. If there are disagreements, one could seek judicial judgment from an external court, or since we are a political group, rather than arguing over which legal provision is correct, finding a politically unified solution is another method."

On the Lee Nak-yeon camp’s intention to file an injunction lawsuit, Chairman Lee said, "I spoke with the Lee Nak-yeon camp by phone, and they said they are considering that (injunction lawsuit)." He added, "If opinions differ, rather than debating with me as the Election Commission chairman, seeking judgment from legal experts is also an option. However, it is embarrassing if, as a political force and the ruling party, we cannot resolve this through our own capabilities."

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