Kim Sang-wook, the Democratic Party of Korea's Ulsan mayoral candidate, proposed Wednesday that his party and the Progressive Party hold a new unification poll on the 27th and 28th of this month, with safeguards against reverse voting and organized intervention by specific groups.
The proposal came two days after Kim declared a halt to the unification primary with Kim Jong-hoon, the Progressive Party's Ulsan mayoral candidate, on the 24th.
"The single condition I set in approaching this unification was that 'unification must be carried out in a way that does not distort the will of democratic citizens,'" Kim said at a press conference held at his election office in Nam-gu, Ulsan.
The Democratic Party and the Progressive Party had conducted polls through two polling agencies on the 23rd and 24th to select a unified candidate. However, the Democratic Party suspended the survey on the 24th, citing "suspicions of organized intervention by specific groups." As a result, of the two polling agencies, the survey conducted for the Democratic Party was halted while the Progressive Party's poll was completed, according to reports.
"Shortly after the polling began, I received word from Kim Doo-kwan, the general election campaign headquarters chief, that 'the public will could be distorted,'" Kim said. "There were reports of concerns about organized intervention in the polling by specific groups, and I was informed that reverse voting prevention measures had been omitted from the survey questions."
He added, "When I asked the person in charge about the reason for the omission, I was told it was unavoidable due to strong demands from the Progressive Party. I agreed to the headquarters chief's request to halt the polling under the judgment that the most important premise and starting point — 'unification in a manner free from distortion of the public will' — was at risk of being undermined by political maneuvering."
Kim said, "If a single candidate is determined with the public will distorted through reverse voting or organized intervention by specific groups, and if this produces an unacceptable result that defies the common sense and expectations of democratic citizens, who could take responsibility for that?" He added, "The idea that one can break through the primary with the help of People Power Party supporters and the general election with the help of the Democratic Party is far too romantic."
"The will of the citizens has already been confirmed through numerous polling data," he stressed. "What is important is not relying on political tricks for a fluke, but our determination to faithfully uphold the public will that has already been confirmed and to fulfill our mission of building Ulsan as a democratic city."
The Democratic Party plans to continue discussions with the Progressive Party on unifying their Ulsan mayoral candidates. Kang Jun-hyeon, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly on Wednesday that "unification is still valid" regarding the Ulsan mayoral candidate unification issue. "I understand that discussions are taking place at the working level between the parties," he said. "There will be an interim report to the central party as it progresses, and we need to wait and see through today."
The Progressive Party, meanwhile, immediately rebutted the Democratic Party's claim that "the Progressive Party demanded the omission of the reverse voting prevention clause," with the dispute escalating. In a statement issued under the spokesperson's name, Kim Jong-hoon's camp asserted, "The essence of this incident is the suspicion of collusion between candidate Kim Sang-wook and the polling agency. They must first explain how they viewed the survey results, through whom they received reports, and whether checking survey values mid-primary is a normal situation."
The camp added, "We plan to file an application for evidence preservation today with the two polling agencies that participated in the primary, and we are also reviewing legal action."
