The detonator of the political world set off by the ballot paper crisis, the gamble of ‘re-election’ > News

According to a recent survey by Realmeter, President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has fallen for four consecutive weeks and has fallen to the low 50% range, and the Democratic Party is also allowing the People Power Party to reverse its approval rating, showing an unusual shift in public sentiment. In particular, the theory of responsibility for poor election management lies behind the steep rise in negative evaluations among men in their 20s and 30s. The National Election Commission's shortage of ballot papers and vote counting errors went beyond simple administrative errors and instilled serious doubts about fairness among young people. The party office is hastily proposing ‘carrot measures’ such as establishing a youth policy organization and prioritizing budget allocation, but the prevailing assessment is that it is not enough to turn back public sentiment that has already turned.

Amidst this political chaos, the People Power Party’s Jang Dong-hyuk regime issued a strong call for ‘election appeals’ to six regions across the country, including Seoul. This is our intention to re-question the effectiveness of the overall elections for regional and local government heads and council members in regions where there is a shortage of ballot papers. Representative Jang claims that this is a principled action in response to the damage to democracy, but the party's internal gaze is very cold. Small factions within the party, including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the elected candidate, are warning that pushing for re-election in a situation where legal requirements and political benefits are unclear could actually backfire.

A fierce war of nerves is taking place over this issue even within the leadership of the People Power Party. Voices are openly rising at the Supreme Council meeting, calling for CEO Jang to resign, along with crude accusations that he is a ‘zombie leader’, and to this, CEO Jang appears to be strongly protesting, calling it an insult to the will of the people. Although the new floor leader Jeong Jeong-sik has taken office and is emphasizing ‘one team’, the gap between the leadership and field lawmakers has not been narrowed when it comes to the appeal issue, which is an important strategic decision. In particular, as the appeal deadline approaches on the 17th, attention is being paid to what kind of repercussions the decision, which was pushed through only at the highest level without sufficient intra-party consensus, will result in the future general meeting of lawmakers.

Even from a legal standpoint, the general consensus is that the likelihood of this appeal being accepted is extremely low. Under the current Public Official Election Act, serious illegal facts that can change the outcome of an election must be proven, but the threshold for a simple shortage of ballot papers to be such a reason is very high. Even floor leader Jeong Jeong-sik tried to control the level after the official briefing, saying, “We are not asking for re-election, but a review,” which can be interpreted as a desperate measure conscious of this legal and political burden. If the National Election Commission dismisses or rejects this, there is a high possibility that the People Power Party will resort to the Supreme Court lawsuit, but this carries the risk of being trapped in the frame of a ‘conspiracy theory of election fraud’ and accelerating the departure of the moderates.