People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok attended a rally condemning a "ballot shortage incident" held in front of the South Jeolla-Gwangju election commission on the 15th, calling for a re-vote. As Jang tours the country reinforcing his "re-vote line," cold reactions have continued within the party.
Jang visited the rally held in front of the election commission in Seo-gu, Gwangju Integrated Special City, and said, "I will stake my political life on protecting the people's precious single vote." He added, "If the reason I, who was serving as a senior judge at the Gwangju District Court, was brought into politics and made the People Power Party leader despite being only a 1.5-term member, was to devote everything at this moment to protecting the people's right to political participation, then I will do so."
Jang particularly argued, "Why must the people fight in front of Olympic Park and the Gwangju election commission even on a rainy evening, having lost their precious single vote?" He said, "The infringement of the right to political participation is something that cannot happen in a democratic country, and calling for a redo of a flawed election is an entirely natural demand."
He then raised his voice, saying, "For two months, has the Republic of Korea, the Lee Jae-myung administration, the Democratic Party, and even many People Power Party lawmakers not listened to that voice?" He added, "We must conduct a special counsel investigation, reform the election commission, abolish early voting, and change the electoral system to same-day voting with hand counting."
That day, Jang held a hand-written placard reading "Diverting the ballots is the real insurrection. Lee Jae-myung is the insurrection leader," and chanted the slogan "Election fraud, re-vote. Same-day voting, hand counting."
Jang's visit to Gwangju was his third regional outdoor protest, following Incheon and Busan. As Jang continues his nationwide tour of protests using the election commission incident as a hook and reinforces his "re-vote line," calls for the party leader's resignation are rising again both within and outside the party.
Five-term People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-se said on CBS radio that day, "If you lose in a local election, taking responsibility as the leader is the principle." He strongly criticized Jang, saying, "If he were contemplating how to change the party, that would still be a reason to remain, but he does not contemplate that at all and is only absorbed in the issue of the right to political participation, circling only outside."
He then pointed out, "The purpose should be conservative victory so that the country is not shaken by a half-baked progressive left, but he is sacrificing the party or the conservative forces by putting forward the private greed and self-interest of 'I must be the front-runner.'"
Regarding the "election fraud, re-vote" slogan that Jang advocates, Kwon said, "If it means that the flawed election has gone too far, I agree, but if it means that someone rigged it with a huge conspiracy from the start to overturn the election result, that is an impossible story." He said, "There is a need to keep such claims at a distance."
In response, People Power Party Supreme Council member Cho Kwang-han, a close aide to Jang, countered, "Isn't he the very person who brought up the Han Duck-soo nomination theory (during the last presidential election) and caused enormous confusion in the middle of the night?" He said, "He has no qualification to say such things."
