With the June 3 local elections approaching, candidates from the Democratic Party of Korea in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, announced a boycott of election polls commissioned by a local media outlet.
On May 11, the Pocheon Democratic candidates issued a statement saying they will not agree to let local outlet A include Democratic candidates in any election-related polls through June 3, and they will refuse to participate.
They said they could no longer allow Democratic candidates' names to be used in polls they consider unreliable, citing serious doubts about those polls' fairness, randomness and representativeness.
The party alleged that a recent mayoral poll in Pocheon, commissioned by outlet A and conducted by survey firm B, raised concerns about compromised fairness. According to registration records from the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission, the poll began at 10:10 a.m. on the 4th.
Democratic candidates say there is evidence that individuals linked to the campaign of People Power Party preliminary candidate Baek Young-hyun posted promotional material on social media encouraging people to take part in the poll before it began.
They argued that if a campaign learned about the poll in advance and then posted targeted promotional material — even though the poll's date and time were not public — that could have affected the poll's fairness and representativeness.
They called for a clear, independent investigation into who obtained the poll details and how, whether the information was shared exclusively with a specific campaign, and whether the media outlet or the polling firm failed to safeguard the information.
The Democratic candidates issued three demands: that outlet A exclude Democratic candidates from its polls; that investigators carry out a prompt and thorough probe; and that they will participate in legitimate polls that guarantee fairness and transparency.
They said polls should objectively reflect public opinion and that restoring damaged trust must come first. They added they will continue to act firmly against distortion and unfairness to build an election culture where voters' judgments are respected.
Pocheon — Reporter Park Seong-yong, syong323@viva100.com
