Democratic Party Cancels Nomination of Sejong City Gap Candidate for False Asset Disclosure

The Democratic Party of Korea abruptly canceled the nomination of Lee Young-seon, the candidate for Sejong City Gap district, on the 23rd. The issue arose due to false declarations regarding property ownership. With the candidate registration deadline passed and no possibility to replace the candidate, the Democratic Party left the nomination for this district vacant. Consequently, this election will be a head-to-head contest between Kim Jong-min, the New Future Party candidate who moved from the Nonsan City, Gyeryong City, Geumsan County district in Chungnam, and Ryu Je-hwa, the People Power Party candidate.

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Kang Min-seok, the Democratic Party spokesperson, announced that night, "Party leader Lee Jae-myung has decided to expel Lee Young-seon, the candidate for Sejong Gap, and cancel her nomination." Kang explained, "During the nomination verification process, there were suspicions that the candidate owned multiple houses and engaged in gap speculation. Nevertheless, she falsely presented her property ownership status to the party, obstructing the nomination process. This was revealed through the election commission's property registration and the party leader's urgent directive for ethical inspection." He added, "This is a serious violation of party rules and regulations and an act that cannot be tolerated from the public's perspective. Therefore, despite the risk of losing a seat, we had no choice but to decide on expulsion and cancellation of the nomination."

Since the candidate registration process with the election commission has already closed, the Democratic Party cannot field a new candidate.

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