Vote share nearly identical to 2024 general election result

'Many people were cheering for me,' candidate says

[Screen capture from YouTube channel OjiSeongTV]
[Screen capture from YouTube channel OjiSeongTV]

Oh Ji-seong, the People Power Party candidate who lost the National Assembly by-election for the Gunsan-Gimje-Buan-gap constituency held alongside the June 3 local elections, said Friday he would file a complaint with the National Election Commission over allegations of election fraud.

Speaking on his YouTube channel OjiSeongTV that day, Oh said he had decided to file a complaint against the Gunsan Election Commission, arguing the vote tallies were statistically impossible. He drew comparisons to his own results from the 22nd general election in 2024.

In the April 10, 2024 general election for the Gunsan-Gimje-Buan-gun Gap constituency, Oh received 17,639 votes, a 13.26 percent share. Democratic Party of Korea candidate Shin Young-dae won by a wide margin with 115,297 votes, or 86.73 percent. Shin entered the National Assembly but lost his seat in January after his campaign manager was convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act.

In Wednesday's by-election, Oh managed only 15,738 votes, or 13.27 percent, against Democratic Party candidate Kim Eui-kyum. Kim won in a landslide with 102,791 votes, or 86.72 percent.

Oh said he could not accept that his vote share of 13.26 percent two years ago and 13.27 percent this time were virtually identical.

"The atmosphere of this election was different, and many people were cheering for me after the televised debate — yet my vote total dropped by 2,000 and somehow my vote share came out almost exactly the same as last time," he said. "In light of all this, I have reasonable grounds to suspect election fraud."

He went on to say he planned to meet this weekend with Jeon Han-gil (56, real name Jeon Yu-gwan), a former Korean history lecturer turned YouTuber who has long promoted claims of election fraud, to bring the issue to wider public attention.

"If we do not get to the bottom of these election fraud allegations now, South Korea will head toward ruin no matter how capable its people are," Oh said.


jshan@heraldcorp.com