Democratic Party Passes Revised Party Charter Amendment at Party Affairs Committee... Excludes 'Voting by Rights Party Members in Party Charter'

Reopening the Central Committee on the 26th to Re-push the Party Constitution Amendment Proposal

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The Democratic Party of Korea's Party Affairs Committee on the 25th reapproved a revised party constitution amendment bill that omitted the provision designating a full vote of party members as the party's highest decision-making process. The Democratic Party will convene the Central Committee on the 26th to proceed with the reapproval procedure of the party constitution amendment bill.

On the same day in the afternoon, the Democratic Party held a Party Affairs Committee meeting to resubmit and approve the party constitution amendment bill. The amendment is almost identical to the previously passed version, except that the provision designating a full vote of party members as the party's highest decision-making method was removed.

Previously, the Democratic Party attempted to process the party constitution amendment bill at the Central Committee meeting held the day before, but it was rejected as it failed to gain the support of the majority of the total Central Committee members. The Democratic Party's Emergency Committee judged that the main reason for the Central Committee's rejection was the 'full vote of party members' and submitted a revised bill excluding this provision to the Party Affairs Committee.

Accordingly, the partial amendment to the party constitution, which stipulates suspension of duties for party officials indicted for corruption-related crimes, will again be subjected to a vote by the Central Committee.

This clause was initially intended by the Party Convention Preparation Committee to relax the conditions by suspending party duties only if found guilty in the first trial. However, controversy arose that this regulation was designed for candidate Lee Jae-myung, who is expected to be elected party leader, leading to revisions by the Emergency Committee. The Emergency Committee maintained the existing party constitution but changed the body responsible for judging exceptions to duty suspension, such as political retaliation, from the Party Ethics Committee to the Party Affairs Committee.

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