People Power Party Accelerates Nomination Preparation... Jeong Jin-seok Appointed as Nomination Management Committee Chairperson

Completion of Duty Appointment Including Kang Dae-sik and Hong Cheol-ho
Lee Jun-seok "New Measures for Reformative Candidate Selection"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 21st and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Junyi Park and Hyunji Kwon] The People Power Party has begun full preparations for the upcoming local elections. After finalizing new party appointments such as the Deputy Head of Organization and Deputy Head of Strategic Planning, they are accelerating preparations for candidate nominations by appointing the Chairperson of the Nomination Management Committee.

On the 21st, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, held a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly and announced, "We will appoint Jeong Jin-seok, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, as the Chairperson of the Local Election Nomination Management Committee," adding, "We will start preparing for the local elections to support the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's victory in the local elections." Regarding the background of the appointment, Lee explained, "Deputy Speaker Jeong is appropriate because he provides stability within the party, can gather information from various channels, and has been active in the regions multiple times." Deputy Speaker Jeong has experience serving as the Chairperson of the Nomination Committee during the April 2022 by-elections. Moreover, as he is considered a close associate of President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, he is expected to serve as a bridge to the next government. With the Nomination Management Committee Chairperson now appointed, preparations for nominations are expected to accelerate further.

Within the party appointments, first-term lawmaker Kang Dae-sik of the People Power Party will serve as Deputy Head of Organization, and former lawmaker Hong Cheol-ho will take the role of Deputy Head of Strategic Planning. In particular, the Deputy Head of Strategic Planning will work alongside Secretary-General Han Ki-ho to oversee the merger process with the People Party. Additionally, Park Seong-min, a first-term lawmaker, has been nominated as Chief Secretary of the Representative Office, a position vacated by lawmaker Seo Beom-su’s candidacy for Ulsan mayor. The party’s Central Committee Chairperson and Talent Recruitment Committee Chairperson will be appointed later at the Supreme Council meeting.

On the morning of the same day, after concluding the Supreme Council meeting, a closed session was held at the party leader’s office for extended discussions. Due to delays caused by the formation of the transition team and Lee’s self-quarantine, the party aimed to quickly decide on key matters such as the announcement of appointments, the formation of the Nomination Committee, and detailed preparation schedules. Additionally, the application criteria for the ‘Public Office Candidate Competency Enhancement Test (PPAT)’ promoted by Lee were discussed. The previous day, the People Power Party decided in a closed Supreme Council meeting that, based on test results, candidates for proportional representation nomination would be eligible if they ranked in the top 35% (Grade 3) for basic councilors and the top 15% (Grade 2) for metropolitan councilors.

On the same day, Lee stated, "There will be many strong and new measures for reformative nominations," emphasizing, "The structure of our party membership has changed significantly over the past year. The absolute number of party members has nearly tripled, and the composition of members has also changed greatly." He added, "Within this changed party structure, we will strive to represent a broader generation and regional representation. This will also be a reformative change in nominations."