The Democratic Party's National Convention Preparation Committee has ruled that the "ranked-choice voting" system it adopted for electing the party leader does not violate the party constitution and bylaws. The party leadership plans to complete the Supreme Council's approval by the weekend at the latest, finalizing the primary rules.
Rep. Lee Yeon-hee, spokesperson for the preparation committee, met with reporters after a committee meeting at the National Assembly on the 9th and said, "We heard a report (on the ranked-choice voting system) from the planning subcommittee. Within the preparation committee, the majority view is that it is difficult to consider it a violation of the party constitution and bylaws." She added, "No objections were raised at today's meeting," and said, "As of now, the position of the preparation committee and the planning subcommittee is that it is difficult to view it as a violation of the party constitution and bylaws."
Lee said, "The ranked-choice voting system was approved by the preparation committee, and it goes through Supreme Council approval before being decided by the party affairs committee." She explained, "It is currently pending before the Supreme Council, and discussions are continuing to reconcile the differing positions." Regarding the timing of the Supreme Council's decision, she said, "It would be best to finish as quickly as possible, and the schedule is to make the final decision at the Supreme Council meeting planned for the 10th." She added, "If no conclusion is reached that day, we are also considering convening an emergency Supreme Council even over the weekend to make the decision."
Under the ranked-choice voting system, voters mark their first, second, and third choices. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and that candidate's votes are redistributed to the next-ranked choices. A key feature is that the final winner can be confirmed on the same day without a separate runoff vote. In political circles, some analyze that if votes consolidate between former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Rep. Song Young-gil, both members of the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction, it could work against former party leader Chung.
Former party leader Chung expressed opposition to the ranked-choice voting system, saying, "We cannot do this to the point of violating the party constitution and bylaws," and "It could cause a big problem later." In contrast, Kim, the former prime minister, met with reporters in Suncheon, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, on the same day and said, "As far as I know, there is no problem under the party constitution and bylaws, whether at party conventions during Lee Jae-myung's leadership, historically, or legally." He criticized Chung's side, saying, "If someone raises an issue, and if it happens to be a particular group of forces, it is difficult to understand." Rep. Song Young-gil welcomes the system, calling it a rule favorable to him.
Meanwhile, the preparation committee approved the primary method for the August 17 party convention on the same day. It decided to announce results immediately each time a regional primary is completed during the three-week rotating primary. Initially, the plan was to hold primaries on Saturdays and Sundays and announce all results together on Sundays, but through renewed discussion, the direction was changed to announce results immediately after each primary.
Regarding the "one member, one vote" system, the committee decided to apply a 5 percent weighting to the valid voting results for the Daegu, Gyeongbuk, and Gyeongnam regions, which have relatively fewer party members. It also approved a plan to introduce a youth Supreme Council member system, separately electing one youth Supreme Council member among the five elected Supreme Council members. Regarding the method for electing the youth Supreme Council member, it was decided that if there are four or more candidates, a preliminary contest will be held to select three to participate in the main contest.
The preliminary contests for party leader and Supreme Council members will be conducted through online voting among central committee members and eligible party members. The public opinion poll, which is reflected at 30 percent, will be conducted using the random digit dialing (RDD) method targeting Democratic Party supporters and unaffiliated voters. The number of preliminary contest winners is three for the party leader contest and eight for the Supreme Council member contest.
