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

[Anchor]

The People Power Party (PPP) has decided to file election nullification appeals for six regions, including Seoul, where shortages of ballot papers occurred. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's side stated they would wait and see how the situation unfolds. 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 appeals for six regions—Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, and Gwangju—stating that these areas were where voters were left waiting due to the ballot paper shortage.

The appeals will collectively cover six types of elections in those regions: metropolitan government heads, local government heads, metropolitan council members, local council members, and both metropolitan and local proportional representation council members.

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 the deadline is the day after tomorrow. The PPP Supreme Council explained that the decision was made 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 appeal, the deadline is this Wednesday. Therefore, it had to be decided 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 full re-election but a procedure to file an appeal regarding the specific polling stations where issues occurred," adding that they "will watch the situation."

Internal strife within the PPP over calls for leader Jang Dong-hyuk's resignation has also grown.

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 People Power Party leadership is being called a zombie leadership.]

Leader Jang dismissed the resignation demands, stating that focusing party strength on a "special prosecutor for the National Election Commission" is the priority.

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

The PPP plans to hold a general meeting of lawmakers to coincide with the plenary session of the National Assembly this week.

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

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