Irregularities alleged  in Unified Progressive Party’s proportional representative primary


The far-left minority Unified Progressive Party is facing mounting internal and external criticism over allegations that its nomination of proportional representative candidates was full of irregularities and fraud.

Political observers said the allegations, following a similar election fraud case involving its co-chair Lee Jung-hee, could shake the party to its core, as it is built on a public image of purity and higher standards and has harshly criticized larger parties for being corrupt and undemocratic.

In their meeting on Monday, UPP leaders decided not to ask public prosecutors to investigate the suspicions surrounding its primary process in March.

“Some mentioned the need for a prosecutorial probe, but this is our internal problem and will be handled so,” said Cho Jun-ho, one of the four co-chairs of the party who now leads the party’s inquiry into the allegations.

“We will get to the bottom of all suspicions and make public any findings,” he said. 

Cho’s team is expected to announce preliminary findings next week.

The scandal broke last week when a party member posted a message on its website, claiming that one of the party’s factions may have rigged primary results to rank their figures higher on the list of proportional representative candidates.

He queried how Yoon Geum-soon and Lee Seok-gi, despite poor showings in online voting, a part of the primary procedure, came out in first and second place. Both eventually won parliamentary seats.

Yoon and Lee belonged to the now-defunct Democratic Labor Party, one of the three groups that merged to form the UPP.

The party grabbed 13 seats in the incoming 300-member parliament in the April 11 general election, including six proportional representatives.

The UPP was created last December by the merger of three minor groups ― the DLP led by Lee Jung-hee, People Participation Party led by Rhyu Si-min and a group of defectors from the New Progressive Party led by Sim Sang-jeong.

Lee, Rhyu and Sim now co-chair the UPP, along with Cho.

“This is not a factional fight. This is about rules and principles. However ugly the truth is, we will face up to it,” said Rhyu.

The UPP held a primary to elect proportional candidates from March 14-18. Members cast their ballots in three ways ― in person at a polling station, via the party’s website or through their cell phones.

Vote-rigging is suspected in its on-the-scene and online voting.

Critics suspect that mobile ballot boxes, which were used to facilitate voting by members unable to travel to the designated polling station in Seoul, may have been used to collect votes for specific candidates. They claimed that only one person, a DLP figure, was dispatched to monitor the voting process and carry the ballot box to the party headquarters.

Suspicions also abound over online voting. The firm in charge of operating the online voting system said it checked the source code of its server three times, while the balloting was underway, on request of a former DLP secretary general. By looking into the source code, one could have learned the race’s latest state like who was leading by how big a margin.

In March, Lee Jung-hee, the former DLP leader and now UPP co-chair, gave up her candidacy after her aides were found to have manipulated a telephone poll to help her win joint candidacy for the opposition alliance that the party forged with the largest liberal group, the Democratic United Party.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)