Lee Jae-myeong violates the ‘runner-up is the loser’ rule and the exclusive Democratic Party platform ‘guaranteed participation in the nomination process’
In response to the Democratic Party's rules of 'selecting a candidate after the winner of the primary is eliminated', Representative Lee Jae-myung arbitrarily decided that 'the runner-up in the primary is the election loser' and monopolized the rules to 'ensure citizen participation in the nomination process' and 'strengthen democracy', one of the 10 general election pledges. ' was violated.
Regarding the candidate primary, on the 16th, Representative Lee said, 'There is no winner in the race,' and arbitrarily applied the rule that "there are only winners and losers in an election" to the selection of candidates for public office, and this is in accordance with the party platform's <party decision-making and nomination process. > It appears to be a violation of the rules to ensure the participation of more citizens and party members.
In the Democratic Party Constitution, Article 88 in 'Section 3 Candidate Recommendation' stipulates only <② When only one candidate is selected, the recommendation is confirmed by resolution of the Supreme Committee and approval by the Party Affairs Committee> and <③ When two or more candidates are selected> However, since there is no rule for 'rejecting recommended candidates', 'selection after rejection' is not the authority of the highest level.
The Democratic Party's constitution stipulates in Article 87 of Section 2, 'Organizations Related to Recommendation of Candidates for Public Official Elections, that <⑤ Necessary matters such as the composition and operation of the nomination management committee shall be determined by party regulations>. Representative Lee told reporters on this day, "The winner will be eliminated due to violation of the election law." “Even if the election is invalidated, the runner-up does not become the winner,” he said. “As for Rep. Park, we thought about it until over 1:30 in the morning and decided on a strategy for nominating a third person, how to decide on the second-place candidate, and how to compete and select a candidate again.” “It was a judgment based on this,” he said, admitting that the highest-level decision was an “arbitrary decision” excluding the party regulations.
Representative Lee expressed his position that the party's candidate primary is the same as the result of the election based on the people's voting rights, and said, "Lee Hae-chan, standing joint campaign chairman, has a point in saying that there are only winners and losers in an election, and there is no second place, so that proposal is excluded." “I did it,” he said, revealing the closed-door operation at the highest level.
‘Applying the election law to candidates’, which Representative Lee collaborated with former Representative Lee Hae-chan, is completely different from following the provisions of the election law and ‘eliminating the winner of the primary without regulations’ stipulated by the Democratic Party’s platform.
The primary goal of a party's candidate primary is to expand support in public office elections after competition within the party, so the runner-up demonstrates the standard of party democracy.
In party democracy, if a case that is not in the ‘primary rules’ occurs, ‘guaranteeing citizen party member participation in the nomination process’ is applied according to the platform.
The Democratic Party's <Public Election Candidate Recommendation and Elected Official Evaluation Committee Regulations> stipulate in <Article 2 (Maintaining Neutrality and Fair Obligation)> that <Persons performing the duties stipulated in these regulations shall not do anything that affects the review and evaluation of recommendations for elected public officials. “You must not engage in unfair behavior, and you must handle your duties fairly,” and specified the “punishment of cheaters in recommendation review and evaluation.”
The Democratic Party of Korea's 10 major pledges for this general election were announced on the 12th, including restoration of democracy and political reform.