<與> Party Standing Committee: 'No Issue with Invalid Vote Controversy'... Lee Nak-yeon "Accepts Primary Election Results" (Summary)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] On the 13th, the Democratic Party of Korea held a party affairs committee meeting and reached a final conclusion that there is no problem with the special party regulation that caused the 'invalid vote controversy.' Former leader Lee Nak-yeon, who raised objections, accepted the primary election results, saying, "I accept the primary election results."

The party affairs committee held a meeting in the afternoon and decided to uphold the decisions made by the Central Party Election Commission and the Supreme Council regarding the party regulation on the 'invalid vote controversy' without overturning them. Earlier, on the 11th, Lee Nak-yeon's side officially raised objections, arguing that the party election commission's decision to invalidate votes obtained by candidates who withdrew from the presidential primary was wrong. They claimed that excluding invalid votes would result in candidate Lee Jae-myung (current Governor of Gyeonggi Province) not surpassing the majority vote threshold, necessitating a runoff election.

However, the party affairs committee accepted the criticism that the relevant clause conflicted with the clause regulating the conditions for a runoff election and decided to amend it afterward. Senior spokesperson Ko stated, "We resolved to revise the party regulation to prevent any future controversies regarding its interpretation."

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the party executive meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th. On this day, the party executive meeting was held to provide an official interpretation regarding the objection raised by the former leader Lee Nak-yeon's side about the vote calculation method for candidates who withdrew midway in the presidential primary./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Former leader Lee later issued a statement saying, "Although the issue of handling votes for withdrawn presidential candidates remains a task, I respect the decision of the party affairs committee. I accept the results of the presidential primary election," declaring his concession.

He also congratulated the final candidate Lee Jae-myung (current Governor of Gyeonggi Province), saying, "Congratulations. I believe you will do your best for the party's unity and victory in the presidential election."

Considering the deepened conflict with Lee's camp due to the primary election objections, he urged the electorate who participated in the primary, "I hope everyone will be considerate and respectful of each other. No comrade should be humiliated or excluded," emphasizing, "We cannot win that way. I am very concerned about that. When we unite, the people embrace us more."

With former leader Lee's official concession statement, the controversy following the announcement of the primary results seems to be calming down for now. However, there are also views that internal party strife may not easily subside even after the declaration.

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