All four of the Unified Progressive Party’s co-chairs – Cho Joon-ho, Lee Jung-hee, Shim Sang-jung and Rhyu Si-min – resigned from their posts at the party’s central committee meeting on Saturday.
On May 4, Lee had hinted at the development saying that she will "relieve the heavy burden" at the central committee meeting. At the time Lee also stated that she will not be running in next month’s vote to select a new party leadership.
“Now I step down from the post of co-leader. I request (the party members) to once again achieve harmony and reestablish the progressive party among the public,” co-chair Lee Jung-hee said before the start of the meeting. The meeting was convened as the UPP struggles to address the intensifying schism within the party that arose over alleged irregularities in selecting proportional representatives.
Shortly after Lee announced her decision and left the conference venue, the other three co-chairs followed suit.
The central committee, the highest decision-making body in the UPP, has been tasked with handling critical issues like demands by some members for all six lawmakers elected under the proportional representation system to resign, and the need for the party leadership to step down for the incident that has drawn considerable public flak.
The public prosecutors office is gathering data to conduct a criminal investigation into the allegations, while in-house probes revealed that a computer program used for internal online ballots had been changed several times and technical errors occurred, leading to the suspension of votes and undermining the credibility of the online ballots.
The party also admitted votes had been cast en masse through a single Internet Protocol address, an indication of voting irregularities. The IP address, the online equivalent of a street address or a phone number, should be different for each voter.
Despite the results of the initial probes, there is disagreement within the party in regards to the investigations.
"Majority shareholders" that control the party have rejected the findings and are opposed to the registration of the proportional candidates involved.
Party watchers said that there have been considerable under-the-table negotiations to resolve the standoff, yet due to the wide gap in how best to settle the issue, a compromise may not be forthcoming.
Related to the uproar, the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), South Korea's progressive umbrella union organization, announced an ultimatum calling on the UPP to take all necessary steps to reform itself and deal with the election fraud issue. "What actions it takes will affect the future of the country's progressive movement," it stressed.
The trade union called for the wholesale resignation of proportional candidates who were elected, the party leadership and secretariat.
It pointed out that three members of the union on the UPP's candidates lists have all officially resigned and stressed the need to conduct a very thorough probe into possible election wrongdoings.
Insiders at the KCTU said if the party fails to mend its issues, it may withdraw support, which could effectively break up the progressive coalition. A general meeting of the union leaders is planned for next Thursday to discuss future courses of action.
By Choi He-suk and news reports
