Two of the main opposition Democratic United Party's (DUP) four presidential candidates said Sunday they will not take part in the ongoing primary election unless there is a change in the mobile voting rules.
Former party chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Doo-kwan said after a meeting with campaign advisers that they will not compete in the Ulsan vote slated for Sunday unless their demands are met.
The candidates claim that existing mobile voting rules are biased to favor Rep. Moon Jae-in, who won by a big margin in the party's first regional primary race on Jeju Island on Saturday.
Under present rules, votes made by mobile phone are not counted unless the voter listens to an entire pre-recorded message that lists all four contenders for the party's presidential ticket.
Supporters of Sohn and Kim claim many votes cast for their candidates were disqualified because voters ended their calls before the entire message was read.
"Because Moon is the fourth candidate on the list, his supporters naturally have to wait until the end of the recording to vote, while people who back the other three candidates tend to cast their votes and then end their calls, which automatically disqualifies the votes cast," officials from the two candidates' campaign offices said.
Sohn is the third candidate on the list of names on the pre-recorded message and Kim is the second. Former commerce minister Chung Sye-kyun is the first candidate on the list.
In the Jeju election, Moon, a former chief-of-staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun, won 59.8 percent of the 20,102 votes cast by the general public and party members on the resort island off the country's southwestern coast.
He has consistently led the polls on who is best qualified to be the DUP's presidential contender.
Moon's polling is much larger than the 20.7 percent won by Sohn and the 14.7 percent support for Kim. Chung came in last by winning just 4.8 percent.
Critics claim the problem in the voting system is highlighted by the lower voting turnout tallied for Jeju, which stood at 58.6 percent of the 32,984 eligible to vote.
Party primary organizers said they will take action to correct the problem and check actual log files that can determine the total votes cast and how many were disallowed, to see if the concerns raised warrant changes to the system. (Yonhap)