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Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, walks past posters of presidential primary candidates as he arrives for an emergency committee meeting at the National Assembly on April 21. / Source: Yonhap News

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on April 21 denounced opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s dominant lead in the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, calling it evidence of a “sweeping dictatorship system.”

At an emergency committee meeting at the National Assembly, PPP floor leader Kwon Seong-dong said, “Candidate Lee has established a sweeping dictatorship system with nearly 90% of the vote. Every genuine anti-Lee figure who could have truly challenged him has been purged.” He went on to call the other contenders “pro-Lee or nominal opposition candidates mobilized to make the primary look like a real contest.”

Kwon warned that if Lee's faction, which he accused of already dominating the legislative branch, also seizes the executive branch, Korea would be on a "high-speed road toward one-man dictatorship."

“We must win the presidential election on June 3 to stop the Lee Jae-myung camp’s anti-democratic and anti-freedom ambitions from silencing criticism with manipulation and forced censorship,” he added.

PPP interim chief Kwon Young-se echoed similar concerns on Facebook the day before, saying, “Looking at the Democratic Party’s primary, I wonder whether this is even democracy.” He noted that in the first regional vote in Chungcheong, Lee swept 88.15% of the votes, while Kim Dong-yeon garnered 7.54% and Kim Kyung-soo only 4.31%. “The other candidates are essentially props,” he said.

Na Kyung-won, a PPP presidential contender, also criticized the DP primary on CBS Radio, asking, “Is the Democratic Party a one-party dictatorship?” She warned that Lee’s philosophy “won’t change,” and urged the Supreme Court to speed up the pending appellate trial on Lee’s election law case. “The law requires election trials to be completed within 12 months. It’s already been over 30,” she said.

Meanwhile, Kwon Seong-dong said he would file criminal charges against Democratic lawmaker Choi Min-hee, chair of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, for allegedly silencing him during a session. “What happened at the April 18 committee meeting was an appalling act of forced censorship,” he said. “We will report Chair Choi for abuse of power and obstruction of official duties.”

He concluded by vowing once again to block what he described as Lee Jae-myung’s "anti-liberal, anti-democratic dictatorship ambitions" in the June 3 election.