The Democratic Party has dismissed claims by Kim Young-rok, the governor of South Jeolla Province, regarding alleged malfunctions in the ARS system during the Gwangju Integrated Special Mayor runoff election, stating that there had already been an agreement among candidates.
Kim lost to former lawmaker Min Hyung-bae in the recent election.
Party Secretary General Jo Seung-rae spoke to reporters after a party committee meeting on the 30th, saying, "It seems that Governor Kim has misunderstood the facts." He explained that 2,308 votes from voters in the Jeonnam region were excluded in the first round of voting, but after discussions among candidate representatives, those votes were resent to the affected individuals.
Jo added, "We have apologized to the candidates for the issues that arose and have taken immediate steps to rectify the situation." He emphasized that the party conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that there were no problems, stating, "This is based on verified raw data."
Meanwhile, Kim held a press conference the previous day in the Gwangju City Council briefing room, calling for a comprehensive re-investigation of the Democratic Party's primary process and reforms to prevent future issues.
He also noted, "It has been two weeks since the primary concluded, but there has still been no responsible explanation from the central party regarding the allegations we raised." He claimed that the 2,308 ARS malfunctions in the runoff, inadequate voting guidance for the electorate, duplicate voting among party members, and the lack of transparency in the overall primary process revealed serious issues regarding fairness and transparency.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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