PPP Files Election Nullification Petitions in 6 Regions Including Seoul; Oh Se-hoon's Side Responds

[Anchor]

The People Power Party (PPP) has decided to file election nullification petitions for six regions, including Seoul, where shortages of ballots occurred. The side of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated that they will monitor the situation for now. With the issue intertwined with calls for the resignation of party leader Jang Dong-hyuk, internal conflict within the party is expected to intensify.

Reporter Park Chan-bum has the story.

[Reporter]

The People Power Party held an emergency Supreme Council meeting this afternoon (June 15).

The party decided to file election nullification petitions for six regions—Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, and Gwangju—stating that these areas were affected by ballot shortages that led to long queues for voters.

The petitions will cover six types of elections in those regions, including those for metropolitan mayors, local government heads, metropolitan council members, local council members, and proportional representatives for both metropolitan and local councils.

However, the elections for superintendents of education and parliamentary by-elections were excluded.

Under the Public Official Election Act, election petitions must be filed within 14 days of the election date, meaning the deadline is the day after tomorrow. The PPP Supreme Council explained that they made the decision without going through a general meeting of lawmakers because of the time constraints.

[Choi Bo-yoon / PPP Chief Spokesperson: Since the party leader is the one authorized to file the petition, the deadline is this Wednesday. Therefore, it had to be decided urgently. We could not afford to delay it any further.]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's side stated, "We were told by the party that in the case of Seoul, this is not a full re-election, but a procedure to file a petition regarding specific polling stations where issues occurred," adding that they "will watch the situation."

Internal strife within the PPP over calls for leader Jang's resignation has also deepened.

During the Supreme Council meeting this morning, Supreme Council member Yang Hyang-ja compared the "Jang Dong-hyuk leadership" to a "zombie" and demanded the mass resignation of the party leadership.

[Yang Hyang-ja / PPP Supreme Council Member: I propose the mass resignation of the leadership. Unfortunately, the current PPP leadership is being called a zombie leadership.]

Leader Jang dismissed the calls for his resignation, stating that the priority is to focus the party's strength on pushing for a special counsel investigation into the National Election Commission.

[Jang Dong-hyuk / PPP Leader: I believe that using the term 'zombie' is an insult to the citizens who have sent us their support.]

The PPP plans to hold a general meeting of lawmakers on the day the National Assembly plenary session is held this week.

At that meeting, the confrontation between the pro-leadership faction and lawmakers opposing Jang Dong-hyuk over demands for a full re-election and the party leader's future is expected to reach its peak.

(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.