Chong Won-o, the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul mayoral candidate, posted and then deleted a campaign graphic on social media (SNS) that contained polling results against People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon. The initial post left out the polling institute and the survey period, among other details.
Earlier, during the party primary, Chong also posted a campaign graphic with polling results and was criticized by a fellow party candidate for "distorting the polling results." The People Power Party later filed a complaint accusing him of violating the Public Official Election Act, and a similar incident has happened again.
According to political circles on the 2nd, Chong posted on Facebook on the 1st, saying, "I will repay you with a Seoul where citizens are the owners. I will constantly listen to and communicate with you," and uploaded a campaign graphic containing polling results against Oh Se-hoon. The graphic included results from "a Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) poll commissioned by CBS," released on the 24th and 30th of last month, and "a Korea Research International poll commissioned by MBC."
The problem was the first post Chong uploaded. The initial campaign graphic listed only Chong's and Oh's approval ratings, the gap between them, the time the polling results were released, and the candidates' names. The bottom part of the graphic appeared slightly cut off.
Under Article 108 of the Public Official Election Act and Article 18 of the election polling standards, anyone who publishes the results of an election poll must also disclose ▲ the commissioning entity ▲ the election polling institute ▲ the survey region ▲ the survey dates ▲ those surveyed ▲ the survey method ▲ the sample size ▲ the method of selecting respondents ▲ the response rate ▲ the margin of error. Violations of this rule are subject to fines.
Chong promptly deleted the original post and uploaded a new one late in the afternoon. The campaign graphic in the new post specified the polling institute, commissioning outlet, and survey period for each poll, and included the phrase, "For other details, see the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website."
Jang Ji-ho, the People Power Party's candidate for Gangbuk District mayor, said, "Are you running campaign materials like a pop-up shop?" and added, "Publishing polling without the polling institute and dates. And deleting it at the speed of light. If you have nothing to hide, why delete it?"
Although Chong deleted the post immediately, there remains a possibility of punishment for violating election law. That is because courts have recognized conditional intent even when a person recognizes a mistake and deletes the post.
For example, ahead of the last presidential election, Lee Soo-jung, the People Power Party's party chapter head for Suwon B and a Kyonggi University professor, posted a false message on social media claiming that "the two sons of President Lee Jae-myung (then the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate) were exempted from military service," and was fined 3 million won in the first trial on Feb. 1. Although Lee deleted the post immediately and posted an apology, the court said, "Even if the post was deleted in a short time, considering the impact of the internet, the culpability cannot be considered light."
Chong also faced controversy over a polling campaign graphic during the party primary for the Seoul mayoral race. Park Ju-min, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said last month during the primary, "Chong's camp produced and is widely distributing a campaign graphic that arbitrarily processed polling results," alleging it was "a graphic that recalculated only the ratios among candidates by arbitrarily excluding the 'don't know' or 'no response' groups."
At the time, Chong's camp explained that "a percentage recalculation was used, and it is not a distortion," but Park called for party-level action and argued the primary vote should be delayed. Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party filed a complaint accusing Chong of violating the Public Official Election Act, saying, "The Public Official Election Act mandates that election crime cases be forcibly adjudicated within six months," and added, "We cannot entrust Seoul's administration to a candidate who is highly likely to be unable to complete the term."
Chong Won-o's camp said, "We included the polling institute and other details when producing the graphic, but it exceeded the size limit in the process of uploading to SNS," and added, "After noticing it post-upload, we deleted the post and uploaded it again."