People Power Party Files Election Petitions 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 petitions to nullify election results in six regions, including Seoul, where shortages of ballot papers occurred. Within the party, some are suggesting 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 petitions for six regions—Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, and Gwangju—citing areas where voters had to wait due to ballot paper shortages.

The petitions 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 representatives 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 petitions must be filed within 14 days of the election, meaning the deadline is tomorrow. The People Power Party's Supreme Council explained that the decision was made without going through a general meeting of lawmakers because of the time constraints.

[Choi Bo-yoon/Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party: Since the party leader is the one authorized to file the petition, the deadline is this Wednesday. Therefore, 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 for Seoul, this is not a request for a full re-election, but a petition regarding specific polling stations where issues occurred," adding that they would "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 efforts on a "special counsel investigation into the National Election Commission" is the priority.

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

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

At that meeting, the conflict 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 a boiling point.

(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.