Song Young-gil targets Jung Chung-rae over preferential voting: 'Was it right then but wrong now?'

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Song Young-gil said Sunday that halting party procedures on the grounds of a particular candidate's electoral interests "is itself a denial of party member sovereignty," as debate intensifies over whether to adopt a preferential voting system for the Aug. 17 party leadership election.

Song, who is running for party leader, made the remarks on Facebook, saying the preferential voting system "was decided by the party affairs committee last July and reaffirmed by the current convention preparatory committee."

He added that the same leadership had already used the method to select the Gyeonggi Province party chair and to hold the National Assembly speaker election. "Was it right then but wrong now?" he asked.

The remarks are widely seen as a rebuke of his rival, former party leader Jung Chung-rae, and supreme council members aligned with Jung, who have opposed the system's adoption, arguing it violates the party's constitution and rules.

Under the preferential voting system, voters rank three candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority, the second-choice votes of those who ranked the last-place candidate first are added to the remaining candidates' totals to determine the winner.

The convention preparatory committee has voted to adopt the preferential voting system as a runoff mechanism, but the supreme council has yet to ratify the decision amid a standoff between factions aligned with Jung and those aligned with Lee Jae-myung who oppose the current leadership.

Regarding the impasse, Song urged the supreme council to reconsider. "If the supreme council overturns the preparatory committee's decision as some are calling for, will party members accept that?" he said. "The rules belong to the members, not the candidates." He called on the council to "make your judgment from the standpoint of party members."