Democratic Party tells PPP to stop exploiting ballot shortage for political attacks

By Jung Yoon-hee, The Herald Business

The Democratic Party of Korea on Saturday called on the People Power Party to "immediately stop its old habits and show restraint," pushing back against the PPP's demands for a by-election and a special prosecutor over the ballot shortage that marred the June 3 local elections.

Democratic Party floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee, in a written briefing, criticized the PPP for "exploiting a national crisis to score political points against the Lee Jae Myung administration" at a time when the National Assembly should be focused on protecting citizens' voting rights.

Lee also took aim at PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok for pointing out that Wi Cheol-hwan, the acting head of the National Election Commission, was a classmate of President Lee Jae Myung in the bar exam. "The acting-head arrangement following the chairperson's resignation is an unavoidable administrative procedure," she said, adding that raising personal ties to drag the president into the matter would make observers cringe.

She went on to say the PPP should "stop its wasteful offensive and first sort out the internal disorder of members who are sympathizing with election fraud theories or calling for a by-election," adding that "the NEC's failure to protect citizens' voting rights is a clear dereliction of its duty, but that cannot serve as justification for the claims of election fraud theorists."

Lee also stressed that "the Democratic Party, as the ruling party, will mobilize every resource at its disposal to do its utmost to set this situation right."