SEOUL - The Seoul High Court on March 26 acquitted Representative Lee Jae-myung of violating the Public Official Election Act, paving the way for the main opposition leader to consolidate his leadership in the liberal bloc.
The appellate court on March 26 [overturned the lower court decision in November](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-koreas-opposition-leader-convicted-of-violating-election-law) that handed down a suspended one-year prison term on the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which holds the majority of seats at the parliament.
With the appellate court decision clearing Mr Lee of charges, he is now considered the top presidential front-runner should an early presidential election takes place in case suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment for alleged self-coup in December is finalized.
In the event that the Supreme Court imposes a penalty exceeding a fine of 1 million won (S$910) on Mr Lee, he would immediately lose his parliamentary seat and be barred from running for public office for the next 10 years.
If either Mr Lee or the prosecution chooses to appeal, the top court’s sentence on the case shall be made within three months after March 26’s judgment, according to Article 270 of the Election Act, which stipulates the mandatory statute on the trial period of an election crime.
Mr Lee was accused of making a false statement during a parliamentary audit in October 2021 over the re-zoning of land in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and denying the fact in a media interview in December 2021 that he had personal ties with a figure at the center of a land corruption scandal that Mr Lee is also suspected to have been involved in.
Under the Election Act, those who publish false information with the intent to get elected to public office face punishment of up to five years in prison.
Ahead of the ruling, the Democratic Party claimed on March 25 that Mr Lee’s accusations are based on the “fabricated” evidence. It argued that the prosecution had “arbitrarily interpreted” his remarks to use them as evidence against Mr Lee.
Mr Lee formerly served as Seongnam mayor from 2010 to 2018 and as the Gyeonggi Province governor between 2018 to 2021. He was the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2022 election, where he lost to Mr Yoon by a razor-thin margin of 0.73 percentage points. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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