Opposition, Former Steering Committee Chair Ahn Gyu-baek Resigns... Deepening 'Conflict of Rules'

Opposition to Overturning the Emergency Committee's Adjustment Plan
Strong Criticism Over the Party's Emergency Committee Decision

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ahn Gyu-baek, the Preparatory Committee Chairman for the Democratic Party Convention (Jeonjun Chairman), abruptly resigned on the 5th. Ahead of next month's Democratic Party convention, the Preparatory Committee announced a plan to increase the proportion of public opinion polls in selecting the party leader, but the party's Emergency Response Committee overturned this, sparking backlash. Amid conflicts between pro-Lee Jae-myung and anti-Lee factions, another internal dispute over the 'rule formation' is expected to arise.

On the same day, Chairman Ahn posted on Facebook, "In a situation where the Preparatory Committee's discussions are becoming hollow, it is difficult to lead productive discussions any longer, which is my judgment as the Preparatory Committee Chairman," adding, "Since my role has lost its meaning, I will step down from the position. I hope productive discussions will take place in the Emergency Response Committee and the Party Affairs Committee."

The day before, the Preparatory Committee adopted a plan to increase the reflection ratio of public opinion polls in the party leader and Supreme Council member elections (introducing a 30% preliminary primary and expanding the main primary to 25%). However, the Emergency Response Committee held a closed meeting immediately afterward, scrapped the adjustment plan, and decided to apply 100% Central Committee member voting as before. They also proposed a method to strengthen regional representation by allowing one of the two votes in the Supreme Council member election to be cast for a candidate running within the region.

Chairman Ahn criticized, "The Emergency Response Committee discarded one of the representative reform plans that reflected public opinion in the composition of the preliminary primary electorate," and said, "There was no prior consultation with the Preparatory Committee during this process." Regarding the regional voting system, he also criticized it as an "unprecedented system," warning that "instead of supplementing regional representation, it may unintentionally strengthen the representation of the metropolitan area and Honam region, leading to unintended consequences."

On the same day, fierce debates erupted within the party over the regulations decided by the Emergency Response Committee. Kim Byung-wook, a member of the Preparatory Committee, criticized the regional voting system, saying, "One of the main reasons for our defeat in the last election was the government's failure to reflect public sentiment and the party's one-way approach." Kim Nam-guk, a 'pro-Lee Jae-myung faction' lawmaker, also directly attacked it, calling it "an ingenious yet bizarre rule that even Democratic Party lawmakers have never heard of," and said, "It is rather a method that thoroughly restricts party members' exercise of rights."

Within the party, a petition letter signed by anonymous lawmakers circulated. In the letter, they criticized the Emergency Response Committee's decision, stating, "It outright rejected the party innovation plan prepared through in-depth discussions by our party lawmakers," and demanded, "Withdraw the Emergency Response Committee's decision, which was arbitrarily and hastily made without sufficient discussion, and call for a 'party-wide vote' involving all party members."