Park Yong-jin Opposes 'New Party Charter Article for All-Member Voting'... "Should Not Follow Hwang Kyo-ahn's Liberty Korea Party"

"Opposition to Making 'All-Member Voting' the Highest Decision-Making Body"
"Supreme Council, Central Committee, and Party Affairs Committee Virtually Neutralized"
16.7% of Party Members Gain Authority to Control the Party
"To Avoid Criticism of Being a 'Party Controlled by Gaeddal,' Majority Opinion Must Be Reflected"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Park Yong-jin, a candidate challenging the Democratic Party of Korea’s party leader election, expressed concerns on the 22nd by opposing the establishment of a new party constitution article that designates the all-member vote as the party’s highest decision-making method. Park requested, "The Emergency Response Committee and the Party Affairs Committee should reconsider this part."

On the same day, Park stated through social media (SNS) that he "opposes the amendment of the party constitution to make the ‘all-member vote’ the highest decision-making body."

He explained, "The Democratic Party is trying to newly establish this in the party constitution," adding, "They intend to elevate the member vote to the party’s highest decision-making method." Park noted, "Until now, the party’s highest decision-making body was the delegate convention, but if this clause is newly established, the delegate convention will effectively be nullified," and continued, "The party convention meets only once every two years, but member votes can be held at any time. This is a significant change in the party’s highest decision-making method."

Park particularly expressed concern about the clause designating the member vote as the ‘party’s highest decision-making method,’ saying, "By explicitly defining it as the highest decision-making body, the delegate convention can be nullified, and the Central Committee, Party Affairs Committee, and Supreme Council can also be effectively nullified." He added, "It reminds me of when candidate Lee Jae-myung proposed through a platform that ‘impeachment and special investigations should be decided by party members,’" warning that "this could increase party confusion and political burden."

Park emphasized, "The bigger problem is that this important matter of changing the party’s highest decision-making unit is being quietly pushed through without proper debate and consensus," and said, "We must not proceed with a vote without discussing the risks and concerns even once."

Regarding the all-member vote, he pointed out, "Currently, the requirements for the all-member vote under party regulations are that if one-third of members vote and a majority agrees, it is approved," highlighting that "theoretically, 16.7% of all party members gain the power to sway major party policies and the party constitution and regulations." He criticized, "If the Democratic Party does not want to be swayed by a minority of members or be criticized as a ‘party dominated by ‘Gaeddal’ (loyal female supporters of Lee Jae-myung),’ it should reflect the will of the majority of party members, as stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea."

Park stated, "The Democratic Party must be democratic both in process and in content," warning, "Otherwise, only some strong voices might be overrepresented, which could widen the gap between party sentiment and public opinion." He added, "As seen in the satellite party formation and the no-nomination principle member votes, irresponsible decisions by party leadership could be exploited and ultimately lead to loss of public trust," and warned, "The Democratic Party must not follow the path of the Liberty Korea Party led by Hwang Kyo-ahn, who made strong voices but suffered a crushing defeat in elections."

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