A complaint alleging that ranking information was leaked in violation of non-disclosure rules during the Democratic Party of Korea's Goyang mayoral preliminary primary has been filed with the party's election fraud reporting center.
According to political sources on Tuesday, Article 9, Section 4 of the Democratic Party's primary implementation rules states that "preliminary primary results shall be announced in order of the winning candidate's ballot number after the primary concludes, and each preliminary candidate's ranking and vote share shall not be disclosed." The party reportedly disclosed only the respective candidate's vote share to observers after the preliminary primary held January 8-9, and required them to sign non-disclosure agreements.
However, supporters of preliminary candidate Myung Jae-sung reportedly distributed text messages to acquaintances on January 10 claiming he was the "clear No. 1." The content was also posted on some blogs but has since been edited.
The key issue is whether mentioning "ranking" constitutes a violation of the rules. The implementation rules designate both ranking and vote share as non-disclosure items. The central question is whether the expression "overwhelming first place" constitutes disclosure of ranking, or whether it is not a violation if the vote share was not explicitly stated.
A Democratic Party official said, "Screenshots of text messages sent by Myung's camp have been submitted as complaints to the election fraud reporting centers at both the central party and the Gyeonggi provincial party."
In response, a Myung campaign official rebutted, "We believe this spread from supporters of each preliminary candidate sharing their own calculations," adding, "This is not the camp's official position, and since vote shares were not disclosed, it is difficult to say party guidelines were violated."
