The Democratic Party of Korea pushed to introduce a "preference voting system" for the party leader election at the August national convention, but a back-and-forth continues between the pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) and pro-Cheong (pro-Jeong Cheong-rae) blocs. With even a late-night Supreme Council meeting falling through, related discussions are expected to continue through the weekend.
The party leadership tried to hold a "late-night Supreme Council meeting" on the 10th to settle the debate over the preference voting system, but it failed to convene the meeting after being unable to narrow differences. Floor leader Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party met reporters at the National Assembly that evening and said, "We canceled the Supreme Council meeting," adding, "We will have to do it over the weekend." Han added, "We tried to wrap it up as much as possible today by gathering opinions, but it didn't work."
The controversy arose after the National Convention Preparatory Committee (Jeonjunwi) proposed introducing a "preference voting system" as the method for electing the party leader. Under the preference voting system, when there are two or more candidates, voters list all candidates from first choice to last. Ballot counting is first conducted based only on first-choice votes, and if a candidate wins a majority, the winner is decided immediately. If no one wins a majority, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated, and the ballots that listed that candidate as the second choice are redistributed to the remaining candidates to determine the final winner.
Meanwhile, the pro-Myung and pro-Cheong blocs continue to clash over whether the system violates the party constitution and rules. Supreme Council member Lee Seong-yun, seen as aligned with the pro-Cheong camp, said on Facebook that "the preference voting system violates the party constitution and rules," adding, "Article 8 of our Constitution guarantees the autonomy of political parties, but that autonomy is recognized within the scope of the party constitution and rules." Lee argued, "If you want to introduce a preference voting system that clearly violates the party constitution and rules, it is only possible after amending the party constitution and rules."
By contrast, pro-Myung Supreme Council member Kang Deuk-gu says introducing the preference voting system does not run afoul of the party constitution and rules. Kang said, "The preference voting system and a runoff system are not in conflict," adding, "In broad terms, the core principle of Article 25 of the party constitution is that the party leader is elected with more than 50% of the vote," and "because the question of whether to hold a runoff through preference voting was delegated to the preparatory committee, the committee also judged there was no problem under the party constitution and rules and reached a second conclusion to adopt the preference voting system."