"Everyone now gets to cast one fair vote — one person, one vote."
Jung Chung-rae, the former Democratic Party of Korea leader seeking a second term, traveled to his political stronghold of Gwangju during the Constitution Day holiday to rally support. The trip to the Honam region was his first regional stop after the close of preliminary candidate registration for the party leadership race.
Five preliminary candidates are vying to lead the Democratic Party at its national convention: Kim Min-seok, Ko Min-jung, Jung Chung-rae, Kim Bo-mi and Song Young-gil, listed in ballot order.
Jung wrapped up his two-day Honam schedule Saturday morning, greeting commuters at Gwangju Songjeong KTX Station in Gwangsan-gu before departing for Seoul.
He had arrived in Gwangju on Friday, attending regional party member conventions in Seo-gu Gap and Buk-gu Gap.
Gwangju, a traditional Democratic Party stronghold, has around 320,000 rights-holding party members — roughly 25 percent of the national membership — making it the single most important battleground in the party leadership election.
Meeting with party members, Jung repeatedly highlighted the "one person, one vote" system introduced after his election as party leader last year as a signature achievement. The reform adjusted the vote ratio between convention delegates and rights-holding members to one-to-one when electing party leadership.
"Wherever I go, people come up to me and say thank you for giving us one person, one vote," Jung said. "That made me realize just how significant it really was. It's not right for one person to have one vote while another has 20. Now everyone gets to vote fairly — one person, one vote."
He added that unity among supporters of former presidents Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae Myung would be essential to winning the next general election and presidential election. "I will look only to the will of the people and the will of the party," he said.
sij@heraldcorp.com
