[Anchor]

As the party convention to elect the leadership of the Democratic Party approaches, factional confrontation is increasingly intensifying. Candidates are appealing not only for the party leader but also for Supreme Council members, urging supporters to vote out everyone from the opposing side and ensure only their own allies win.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon brings us the latest from the political arena.

[Reporter]

At a meeting with Democratic Party members held in Ulsan on the morning of today (July 26), Party Leadership candidate Jung Chung-rae was joined by three pro-Jung Supreme Council candidates who call themselves "Team Jung Chung-rae."

Among Jung's supporters, a so-called "birthday voting" tactic is spreading, where votes are concentrated on two pro-Jung Supreme Council candidates based on the members' birth months.

Today, candidate Jung also sharpened his criticism, taking aim at the past departure of pro-Lee candidate Kim Min-seok from the party.

[Jung Chung-rae/Democratic Party Leadership Candidate: I am certain that I, Jung Chung-rae, who has never once betrayed the party and has never once left the party, will become the ultimate protector of President Lee Jae-myung.]

At around the same time, four pro-Lee Supreme Council candidates attended a policy meeting for party leadership candidate Kim Min-seok held in Gwangju.

Candidate Kim labeled the pro-Jung candidates as "anti-Lee" today and directly demanded, "Please vote out all those who only claim to be pro-Lee in words but are actually anti-Lee."

[Kim Min-seok/Democratic Party Leadership Candidate: I affirm that you will 100% elect a leadership consisting solely of five 'pro-Lee' members who can resolutely criticize the 'anti-Lee' faction.]

Candidate Song Young-gil, who is focusing on gathering party sentiment in the Honam region, met with young party members in the Jeonbuk region, asked them how the party-presidency relations were during the era of leader Jung Chung-rae, and stated the following:

[Song Young-gil/Democratic Party Leadership Candidate: It is difficult to agree with the specific criticisms made by figures like writer Rhyu Si-min, is it not?]

Targeting candidate Jung, Song wrote on social media that the party cannot be entrusted to forces that shake the president, who is the pillar of the party.

(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Young-hwi kbc | Video editing: Lee Seung-jin)