Ex-progressive party leader to be called in over primary rigging scandal

Police said Wednesday they will summon the former leader of a minor opposition party for questioning over allegations her aides tampered with a crucial voter survey ahead of April's general elections.

The move comes after police arrested with court-issued warrants three aides to Lee Jung-hee, former co-chairperson of the left-leaning Unified Progressive Party (UPP), on charges of rigging the public survey to help her win the single opposition candidacy for a parliamentary seat in Seoul's Gwanak district.

The UPP and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) chose their single joint candidates for the parliamentary elections based on the results of telephone surveys asking voters which contenders they favored.

Lee won the primary, defeating her rival from the DUP, but dropped out after revelations about her aides' actions. She also resigned from her leadership post in May, taking responsibility for a series of alleged election frauds involving the party.

Lee has denied her role in the alleged public survey rigging, saying "the aides carried out the act all by themselves." However, suspicions mount that the former lawmaker may have masterminded the plan.

"We have not formally requested a subpoena yet," a police officer close to the investigation said. "She will soon be summoned and quizzed over whether she gave instructions or took part in rigging the phone survey."

The police have secured circumstantial evidence that high-ranking UPP party officials were involved in the scandal, according to other sources.

The three in custody are accused of sending mobile phone text messages to 247 voters, including scores of party members, asking them to lie about their ages and vote for Lee if included in the telephone survey, police said. The automated survey calls were made randomly.

The survey was designed to select the candidate for each constituency most likely to win by assessing responses from different age groups. Lee's aides allegedly attempted to boost her ratings among younger age groups on tips that enough responses from older groups had already been collected.

Police have booked 41 party members without physical detention on charges of giving false information. (Yonhap)