People Power Party to Finalize Presidential Primary Candidates Before Chuseok... "Narrowed Down to 4"

The first meeting of the People Power Party's presidential primary preparation committee held on the afternoon of the 9th at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] The People Power Party has decided to narrow down the presidential election main candidates from '8' to '4' through two rounds of cutoffs.

The People Power Party's Presidential Election Preparation Committee announced on the 16th that they will finalize the main candidates before Chuseok in September. After concluding the 3rd committee meeting that day, Committee Chair Seo Byung-soo told reporters that they agreed to select 8 candidates in the first cutoff and 4 candidates in the second cutoff.

Chair Seo explained, "The detailed number of cutoff rounds and multiples can only be finalized after candidate registration is completed," but added, "The committee's position is that staged cutoffs must be implemented."

Earlier, Representative Lee Jun-seok, assuming the "election bus departs in August," stated that "(Candidates outside the party) who join the party within the deadline can be cut off in two stages," and expressed that it is desirable to narrow down the main candidates to 4.

Meanwhile, the Preparation Committee announced that on the 20th, they will conduct the first interviews for two candidates, Ahn Sang-soo and Kang Sung-hyun, who have already registered as preliminary candidates within the party.