The People Power Party on the 15th decided at its supreme council meeting to petition the National Election Commission for a full rerun in five areas where ballot shortages occurred in connection with the June 3 local elections.
Chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yun of the People Power Party met reporters at the National Assembly in the afternoon after an emergency supreme council meeting and said, "The People Power Party discussed the petition and decided to hold a full rerun," adding, "The areas are Incheon, Gyeonggi, Gwangju–Jeonnam, Ulsan, Busan, and Seoul, where ballot shortages were raised."
The elections for which a rerun petition will be filed are six: metropolitan mayors/governors, basic mayors/governors, metropolitan council members, basic council members, metropolitan proportional council members, and basic proportional council members. The superintendent of education election will be excluded. The petitioner will be People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok.
To the question "Was there unanimous consent among the supreme council attendees?" Choi said, "There were slightly different views, so we discussed them, and in the end everyone agreed," adding, "There were opinions on the scope and legal views, and we went through discussions."
Choi added, "Because the party leader is the petitioner, we went through a supreme council resolution, and the floor leader also came and conveyed the floor's views," and said, "As for discussions with Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, I understand they have been ongoing, but the topic did not come up in the day's supreme council discussion."
Article 222 of the Public Official Election Act states that "a candidate or a political party that has objections to the validity of a local government head election may file a lawsuit to invalidate the election with the Supreme Court." However, to file a lawsuit to invalidate an election, one must first submit a petition challenging the validity of the election to the National Election Commission. After receiving a decision of dismissal or rejection on this petition, one can file a lawsuit to invalidate the election against that decision.