Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Ballot shortage issue fuels PPP infighting
People Power Party Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok walks toward his seat for a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis
By Jung Min-ho
Reformist faction accuses party chair of using crisis to cling to power
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is descending into open infighting over how far to push its challenge on the local elections after ballot shortages in several key electorates caused disruptions to voting, with PPP Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok facing mounting calls to step down and accusations that he is using the controversy to prolong his own political career.
At the center of the dispute is the leadership’s decision to lodge election complaints seeking partial revotes in seven constituencies where ballot papers ran out during the June 3 elections, followed by Jang’s move to escalate demands for a nationwide rerun. Senior party members such as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and floor leader Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig have dismissed Jang’s remarks, saying they are his own personal stance rather than a party position.
Jang made a social media post Tuesday, writing, “The goal is clear. A nationwide rerun. The petitions are only the beginning.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Oh — who himself scraped through to win the Seoul mayoral race by a narrow margin — said Jang’s leadership has effectively ended after a major election loss, with the PPP securing only four out of 16 key metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial seats.
“I think the Jang Dong-hyeok leadership has already outlived its lifespan … Its leadership has suffered a decisive blow,” Oh said, adding that his call for a rerun of the elections is largely a tactical slogan aimed at shoring up his own political standing.
This sentiment was on full display on Wednesday, where a three-hour closed-door meeting among PPP lawmakers became a venue for calls for Jang to step down and take responsibility for the poor election performance.
“Many lawmakers raised concerns about the party line during the campaign and about the election result,” Rep. Choi Eun-seok, chief deputy floor spokesman, told reporters following the meeting. “I can tell you that many lawmakers said Chairman Jang should take responsibility for both the campaign and its outcome.”
Lawmakers also said they conveyed to Jang that, rather than making a nationwide revote the party’s official line, it would be preferable to limit election petitions to just seven constituencies where ballot shortage problems were particularly serious. The seven areas they agreed to target are in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, South Jeolla Province, Gwangju, Ulsan and North Chungcheong Province.
Internal backlash has been building since the PPP’s Supreme Council agreed earlier this week to file formal election complaints after ballot shortages forced voters to wait or leave polling stations without casting ballots.
Wednesday marked the deadline to file election petitions, which falls two weeks after Election Day. Seoul was granted a two-day extension to Friday, as ballot shortages and related disruptions delayed the confirmation of its results.
Under current election law, once a petition is filed, the National Election Commission must determine within 60 days whether there were serious legal violations in the conduct of the vote and whether they affected the outcome. If the commission upholds the complaint, a rerun of the election must be held within 30 days. If the petition is dismissed, the petitioner has 10 days to bring a lawsuit before judges. By law, an election can only be invalidated when it is recognized that the irregularities “affected the result of the election.”
On Monday, at a Supreme Council meeting, Yang Hyang-ja, the PPP's defeated Gyeonggi gubernatorial candidate, urged Jang to step down. Her call came just four days after fellow council member Woo Jae-jun proposed the idea. If four out of its five elected members — Yang, Woo, Kim Min-soo, Shin Dong-wook and Kim Jae-won — resign, the party leadership will automatically be dissolved and the PPP will shift to an emergency leadership system. But for now, Shin and Kim Min-soo remain firmly opposed, making a coordinated resignation appear unlikely.
If Jang continues to dig in — as many in the party expect — the PPP could be in for a prolonged power struggle, with limited formal mechanisms to remove him from power.