![People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks through a megaphone at the handball arena in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on June 5, where ballot counting was underway for the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/08/rcv.YNA.20260605.PYH2026060504770001301_P1.jpg)
Criticism erupted from both ruling and opposition parties Monday over People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok's call for a nationwide re-election, with lawmakers and political figures accusing him of exploiting a ballot shortage controversy to deflect responsibility for the PPP's crushing defeat in the June 3 local elections.
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Hyeon-jeong, appearing on CBS Radio's "Park Seong-tae's News Show" on Monday, said Jang was "abusing the situation as a means to evade accountability for the local election defeat." She added that "the president, the ruling party and the opposition party all share a similar position — only one person, Jang Dong-hyeok, is saying something different."
Park Won-seok, a former Justice Party lawmaker who appeared on the same program, said Jang should not be making the re-election call unless he could turn it into official party policy. "Going to the Songpa scene, inflaming rally participants and shouting for a re-election is irresponsible politics," Park said.
Criticism also came from within the PPP itself. Kim Geun-sik, the party's district committee chairman for Songpa-byeong, said there were growing calls for Jang to step down at a time when "cool-headed self-reflection is needed" following the local election results. "The sudden push for a re-election raises suspicions that he is trying to change the subject to avoid resignation demands," Kim said.
All panelists on the radio program agreed that Jang's call for a nationwide re-election has no legal basis. Park said a re-election is only possible after a court issues a final ruling invalidating an election, and that the process must be initiated through a lawsuit filed by a candidate or voter. "Calling for a re-election as a political slogan has no meaning whatsoever," he said.
The panelists also noted an inherent contradiction: seeking a re-election for the Seoul mayoral race would ultimately require either the winning candidate, Oh Se-hoon, or the losing Democratic Party candidate, Jeong Won-ho, to file a suit to nullify the result.
Reform Party Secretary-General Lee Gi-in added that it was also problematic for the PPP leader to raise the re-election demand as if it were party policy without first consulting the more than 90 PPP-backed basic local government heads who had just won their seats.
dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com
