People Power Party to File Election Appeals in 6 Regions Including Seoul; Oh Se-hoon's Side Says It Will "Wait and See"

[Anchor]

The People Power Party has decided to file appeals to nullify election results in six regions, including Seoul, where shortages of ballot papers occurred. Within the party, there is speculation that Representative Jang Dong-hyuk is using this move to deflect calls for his resignation. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's side has stated that it will wait and see for now.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the story.

[Reporter]

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

The party decided to file election nullification appeals for six regions—Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, and Gwangju—citing them as areas where voters were left waiting due to ballot paper shortages.

The appeals will be filed collectively for six types of elections in those regions, including metropolitan government heads, local government heads, metropolitan council members, local council members, and proportional representation members for both metropolitan and local councils.

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

Under the Public Official Election Act, election appeals must be filed within 14 days of the election date, meaning they must be completed by tomorrow (June 17). The People Power Party's Supreme Council explained that the decision was made without going through a general meeting of lawmakers due to the time constraints.

[Choi Bo-yoon / Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party: Since the party leader is the one authorized to file the appeal, and the deadline is this Wednesday, a decision had to be made urgently. We could not delay the deadline 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 request for a full re-election, but a procedure to appeal regarding specific polling stations where issues occurred," adding, "We will wait and see."

Internal strife within the People Power Party over calls for Representative Jang's resignation has also intensified.

During the Supreme Council meeting yesterday 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 / Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party: I propose the mass resignation of the leadership. Unfortunately, the current People Power Party leadership is being called a 'zombie leadership.']

Representative Jang dismissed the calls for his resignation, stating that focusing the party's strength on a "special counsel for the National Election Commission" is the priority.

[Jang Dong-hyuk / Representative of the People Power Party: I believe that calling us zombies is an insult to the citizens who have sent us their support.]

The People Power Party plans to hold a general meeting of lawmakers to coincide with the National Assembly plenary session scheduled for this week.

At that meeting, the conflict between the pro-leadership faction and lawmakers opposing Jang Dong-hyuk—centered on 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.