The Democratic Party had planned to make a final decision on whether to introduce ranked-choice voting for the party leader election at its August 17 national convention during a Supreme Council meeting on the night of the 10th, but ultimately canceled the late-night meeting after failing to narrow differences. The conflict over ranked-choice voting is expected to continue throughout the weekend.
Han Byeong-do, acting party leader and floor leader, met with reporters at the National Assembly that evening and said, "It seems we need to make a little more effort, so we cannot hold it today. We will have to do it over the weekend," adding, "We tried to wrap it up as much as possible today, but it didn't work out." The Democratic Party had initially planned to hold a Supreme Council meeting around 9 p.m. after failing to reach a conclusion on ranked-choice voting at its morning Supreme Council meeting that day.
Earlier that morning, Kang Jun-hyun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, met with reporters after the Supreme Council meeting and said, "Regarding this national convention, we still have not reached a conclusion due to legal interpretation issues concerning the method of the party leader and Supreme Council member primaries, and the method of the elected youth Supreme Council member primary."
He then said, "Han Byeong-do, acting party leader and floor leader, said he would reach a conclusion in some form today," adding, "The time has not been decided for tonight, but we decided to hold another Supreme Council meeting to discuss and decide."
The party's National Convention Preparation Committee decided on the 7th to adopt ranked-choice voting as the method for electing the party leader and to establish a youth Supreme Council member system. Ranked-choice voting is a method in which voters select their first through third choices in advance. If a candidate wins a majority in the first-choice count, the winner is immediately determined; if no candidate wins a majority, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated. At that point, votes from those who chose the third-place candidate as their first choice are redistributed to the candidate they designated as their "second choice."
Lee Sung-yun, a pro-Chung (pro-Jung Chung-rae) Supreme Council member, opposed the introduction of ranked-choice voting, writing on Facebook that day, "Ranked-choice voting violates the party constitution and rules," and, "President Lee Jae-myung, during his time as party leader, also emphasized member sovereignty and upheld the principle of processing party affairs only after revising the party constitution and rules through formal procedures when revision was necessary."
Council member Lee pointed out, "With less than a week left until candidate registration, trying to newly create or change election rules that are not in the party constitution and rules cannot help but raise suspicions of attempting to undermine procedural legitimacy or predictability for a specific purpose."
Park Kyu-hwan, a pro-Chung Supreme Council member, also said, "It is said that one should not adjust one's hat strings under a plum tree," and, "The introduction of a new system that brings changes to the leadership structure, or a change in the election method, must be approached with caution."
On the other hand, Kang Deuk-gu, a Supreme Council member close to former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, said, "I say this clearly: ranked-choice voting does not violate the party constitution and rules," and, "It is one method of runoff voting stipulated by the party constitution." Council member Kang cited as grounds a resolution by the party affairs committee ahead of last year's national convention that ranked-choice voting would be implemented if there were three or more primary candidates.
