Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung was elected as a Democratic Party's presidential candidate by a narrow margin with 50.29 per cent of the vote on the 10th. Ex-PM Lee nak-yon's camp has decided to officially appeal to the party's election management commission about invalid votes in the presidential primary. Governor Lee's camp said that it is protest against the result of the primary.
Former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon's camp announced to the media in the name of the co-election chairmen Seol Hoon and Hong Young-pyo, saying, "All members of the camp held an emergency meeting on the night of the 10th, and decided to officially appeal to the party's election management commission in accordance with the prescribed procedures."
"The camp has consistently argued several times that invalid vote cast for candidates who pulled out midway through the primary is directly contrary to the main purpose of the final vote," Lee Nak-yon's camp said. "Lee Nak-yon's camp will officially submit an objection to the election commission on the 11th."
The Democratic Party's election management commission earlier denied Lee Nak-yon camp's request since the votes of candidates who resigned for the election is treated as 'invalid votes' according to Article 59 of the Special Party Regulations of the 20th presidential candidate, they are not included in the 'valid votes' prescribed in Article 60.
Because Chairman Lee Sang-min of the Election Commission repeatedly declared on the 10th that the results will not change unless there was a serious defect in the primary process, it is analyzed that Lee Nak-yon camp's argument is nominally an objection, but it is virtually the dissatisfaction of the primary result.
However, the appeal of Lee Nak-yon's camp is not groundless. The Democratic Party leadership also admitted that Articles 59 and 60 of the party regulations were contrary to each other. However, since party regulations cannot be corrected in a timely manner, candidates have been advised not to pull out in the middle to prevent controversy over rounding up the number of votes.
"If Governor Lee was elected with more than 57 per cent of the votes as he professed earlier, Lee Nak-yon's camp would have given up raising an issue," said an official from the Democratic Party. "But as governor Lee barely won the primary, the party is in the trouble." He added, "There is a rift in the party due to the Governor Lee's 'Daejang-dong gate' frame and the leadership of party leader Song Young-gil," and that, "As a result, it hurt the party." (ANI/Global Economic)
( With inputs from ANI )
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