The Democratic Party of Korea has yet to complete a review report on the June 3 local elections, more than a month after the panel assessing the results wrapped up its work. Party insiders say the leadership blocked the report after it attributed the loss in the Seoul mayoral race in part to the Lee Jae-myung administration's housing policy.
The party's election review panel finalized its overall assessment of the election results on Sept. 7 with the unanimous consent of all members, according to Democratic Party officials on the 12th. The panel reviewed election data, the candidate nomination process, policy and campaign strategy before agreeing unanimously to compile the findings into a report.
Even so, panel members have not been shown so much as a draft. "We agreed to begin drafting, editing and circulating the report among panel members once the overall assessment was done, but it has been at a standstill," one Democratic Party official said. "There were no points of contention among the members, so it is hard to understand why the draft has not been circulated."
Some in the party go further, arguing that the leadership — including party leader Kim Min-seok and Kang Deuk-koo, the newly appointed head of the Institute for Democracy — is reluctant not only to release the report but to publish it at all. The panel cited the Lee administration's housing policy, the way Chung Won-oh's campaign was run and the push for a special counsel investigation into what the party calls fabricated indictments as reasons for the Seoul mayoral defeat. Making those findings public, the argument goes, could strain relations between the party and the presidential office.
The prolonged delay has also raised concerns about the fairness and objectivity of the review. Failing to produce the report four months after the election invites suspicion that the findings themselves are being adjusted to suit political interests. Allegations have surfaced that some lawmakers who served on the panel are revising the draft without the members' consent. "Releasing the report was a promise to party members and to the public," another Democratic Party official said. "The findings should be disclosed fairly, if only for the good of the party."