The main opposition Democratic United Party’s presidential primary suffered a major setback over the weekend, as the underdogs threatened a boycott over alleged faults in the mobile voting system.　

Former presidential chief-of-staff Rep. Moon Jae-in came out ahead in the two regional votes so far, winning nearly 60 percent in Jeju and 52 percent in Ulsan.

The Ulsan vote on Sunday after the vote in Jeju was boycotted by the three trailing candidates, former party chief Sohn Hak-kyu, former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Doo-kwan and Rep. Chung Sye-kyun, who called for the change to the mobile voting rules. 　

Seats reserved for the presidential hopefuls of the Democratic United Party’s presidential primary race are left vacant at Jongha Gymnasium in Ulsan on Sunday as the three trailing candidates boycotted the event in protest to the controversial mobile ballot. (Yonhap News)

The candidates claimed that the existing mobile voting rules are biased in favor of Moon because voters ended their calls before the entire message was read. Under the rules, votes made by mobile phone are not counted unless the voter listens to an entire pre-recorded message that lists all four contenders.

“The call is only valid if a voter hangs up after listening until candidate No. 4 Moon Jae-in is announced, while all the other calls where voters hang up right after picking candidate No. 1, 2 or 3 are counted as invalid,” Sohn Hak-kyu camp’s spokesperson Kim Yoo-jeong said.

For the mobile vote, Chung is the first candidate on the list of names on the pre-recorded message, followed by Kim, second, and Sohn, third.

In an effort to calm the candidates, the leadership proposed offering second chances to voters whose votes for Jeju and Ulsan are verified as problematic, and to refer the scheduled next vote for Gangwon Province to Monday with a clearer description of the voting method.

The trio, however, called the measures “inadequate” and demanded a formation of a new election management system in which delegates of each candidate can participate.

Without the participation of the three, the party went ahead with the on-site votes at Jongha Gymnasium in Ulsan, despite protests from some of their supporters.

Moon’s camp, meanwhile, released a statement and expressed regret.

“Although we could have different thoughts and positions, the people come first and our promise comes first. ... The four of us need to be able to gather forces. We will concede to whatever the party choses to do to alleviate the concerns of other candidates,” Moon camp‘s spokesperson Jin Seon-mi said. 　

In Jeju, Moon won a total of 12,023 votes or 59.8 percent of the 20,102 valid votes, followed by Sohn with 4,170 votes or 20.7 percent. Kim won 14.7 percent, followed by Chung with just 4.8 percent.

Some 36,000 party and citizen delegates had registered to vote either through mobile phones or directly in polling stations during the Jeju primary.

In Ulsan, Moon won 4,951 votes or 52.1 percent of the 9,508 valid votes, followed by Kim with 32.1 percent, Sohn 11.8 percent, and Chung 4.1 percent.

In sum, Moon is in the lead so far with a total of 16,974 votes or 57.3 percent from the first two days of the primary.

Moon has been a consistent frontrunner among the DUP’s presidential hopefuls.

The party is planning to elect a candidate to go up against ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye by Sept. 16. If a single candidate does not win over 50 percent of the votes by then, the two top runners will go to a decisive ballot on Sept. 23.

By Lee Joo-hee and news reports ()


koreaherald@heraldcorp.com