Democratic Party Central Committee 'Rejects' Party Charter Amendment... "All-Member Vote and Article 80 Amendment Fail" (Update)

Only 47.35% Support Constitutional Amendment
Democratic Party to Hold General Assembly Tomorrow to Discuss Follow-up Measures

On the 13th, Byeon Jae-il, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, presented the first agenda item, the amendment of the party constitution, at the Central Committee meeting held at the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Gu Chae-eun] The Democratic Party’s Central Committee rejected the party constitution amendment proposal on the 24th. The amendment, which sought to relax the existing party constitution requirement to suspend party positions upon indictment for corruption and to designate a vote by all party members as the Democratic Party’s highest decision-making method, was “stalled.”

On the same day, the Democratic Party held a Central Committee meeting and voted on the revision of the party platform and party constitution. The party constitution amendment proposal was rejected. Byun Jae-il, chairman of the Democratic Party Central Committee, announced the vote count results, saying, “Out of 556 Central Committee members, 430 attended,” and “268 voted in favor of the party constitution amendment, recording a 47.35% approval rate, which fell short of the 50% required for the amendment.”

Shin Hyun-young, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, commented on the rejection of the party constitution amendment proposal, which had passed the Emergency Committee and the Party Affairs Committee, saying, “The amendment was rejected because it did not receive the approval of the majority of the total members,” and added, “We will hold a party meeting tomorrow to reflect and discuss the matter internally.” Shin also said, “There needs to be time to explain the party constitution amendment within the party,” and “Since the amendments to the party platform and party regulations that could be passed by this Emergency Committee have been approved, the remaining party constitution amendments should be discussed by the next leadership.”

Initially, the Democratic Party’s National Convention Preparation Committee prepared to amend the party constitution to suspend party positions upon indictment for corruption. However, as controversy over “double standards” arose within the party, the related clause was maintained but partially supplemented with an exception clause allowing different treatment in cases such as political oppression. Accordingly, an amendment was proposed to relax the criteria so that bodies such as the Party Affairs Committee, in addition to the Party Ethics Committee, could decide on suspension of party positions, but it failed to pass the Central Committee this time.

The clause has been criticized as being designed for candidate Lee Jae-myung, who is considered the frontrunner for party leader.

Recently, the party constitution provision designating a vote by all party members as the party’s highest decision-making body also sparked controversy. There were concerns that if candidate Lee becomes party leader, he could be swayed by his hardline supporters through the all-member vote. Democratic Party leadership candidate Park Yong-jin criticized, “If we say that the all-member vote is our party’s highest decision-making method, the party convention becomes powerless.” Park also criticized the lack of proper disclosure of this provision, saying, “This is a matter of changing the party’s highest decision-making body, so should it be passed without discussion and just as a formality?”

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