Ahn reports presidential aide for PPP race interference

Politics

Published: 07 Mar. 2023, 17:36

Ahn reports presidential aide for PPP race interference

Officials from Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo’s campaign deliver a criminal complaint against Kang Seung-kyoo, the senior presidential secretary for civil society, at the Central Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi on Tuesday afternoon. [YONHAP]

The People Power Party's (PPP) leadership contest took an ugly turn on the last day of voting as Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo's campaign announced it reported a presidential official for allegedly interfering in the race.

Ahn is one of four candidates in the leadership contest, the results of which are due to be announced Wednesday.

Ahn’s campaign said it filed a complaint Tuesday against Kang Seung-kyoo, the senior presidential secretary for civil society, with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), alleging that unnamed officials under Kang committed election interference and abuse of authority by campaigning for frontrunner Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon.

Officials in Kang’s office earlier faced accusations from Ahn that they openly campaigned for Kim — who is widely believed to be President Yoon Suk Yeol’s preferred candidate for the party leadership post — and disparaged Ahn in at least two group chats with PPP members.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday, Ahn said that if the allegations are true, presidential officials had not only “damaged party democracy” but also “violated Article 7 of the Constitution, which mandates the observance of political neutrality by civil servants.”

Ahn also reacted to media reports that there are recordings of presidential officials asking others to campaign in support of Kim’s leadership bid, saying he could not “hold back his shock” about such evidence.

The candidate also condemned the PPP’s emergency steering committee and the party election committee for their silence regarding allegations of interference by the presidential office.

In a radio interview Tuesday, Ahn remarked that the PPP’s leadership race “was in some ways harder than running for president,” adding he “didn't imagine officials at the presidential office would interfere with the national convention like this.”

Ahn dropped out at the last minute from last year's presidential election in support of Yoon’s eventually successful bid.

But Ahn also said in the interview that he did not believe Yoon himself was involved in this instance of alleged interference.

The two men have enjoyed a rocky relationship, with the candidate accusing the president of weighing in on the leadership race in recent weeks.

Voting in the PPP’s leadership contest, which ended Tuesday, marked a record turnout of 53.13 percent, or 444,833 eligible voters, as of Tuesday afternoon.

It is the highest participation rate for the leadership election of a major conservative party in Korea, surpassing the 45.36 percent turnout in the party’s 2021 leadership race.

Voting in the PPP leadership race is only open to the party’s approximately 840,000 due-paying members.

The results of the leadership election are set to be announced at the PPP’s national convention on Wednesday. Should no candidate win an outright majority, voting will proceed to a run-off, the results of which will be announced March 12.

The next PPP chairman is expected to lead the party through next year’s parliamentary elections, where the PPP will seek to gain a majority in the National Assembly, currently dominated by the rival Democratic Party, to empower President Yoon’s policy agenda.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]