Only the Supreme Council Member Election Reflects the Emergency Committee Proposal
Central Committee Vote Conducted 100%
Lee Jae-myung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is moving to hold the second half of the year Speaker of the National Assembly election at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on the 4th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Democratic Party of Korea's decision to apply the '100% Central Committee members' rule to the election of Supreme Council members in the preliminary vote for the August party convention has led to assessments that it will be difficult for the party leadership to be dominated by the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction. The 30% public opinion poll component is excluded from the Supreme Council member election, leading to interpretations that pro-Lee faction lawmakers, who enjoy support from fandoms within the party, may fail to pass the Central Committee 'cutoff.'
In a situation where Lee Jae-myung's candidacy and election as party leader are virtually certain, if many pro-Lee faction members are eliminated from the Supreme Council, it is expected that the next leadership lineup could take the form of 'Lee Jae-myung as party leader versus anti-Lee Supreme Council members.'
According to the Democratic Party's Party Affairs Committee on the 6th, amid the conflict between the proposal from the Party Convention Preparation Committee (PCPC) and the revised plan from the Emergency Response Committee (ERC), the party decided to accept the PCPC's proposal (70% Central Committee members, 30% public opinion poll) for the party leader election, but to adopt the ERC's proposal (100% Central Committee members) for the Supreme Council member election.
Woo Sang-ho, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 4th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
Ahn Gyu-baek, Chair of the Preparation Committee for the Democratic Party of Korea's National Delegate Convention, is giving opening remarks at the first policy platform subcommittee discussion of the Preparatory Committee held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@
While the ERC's proposed regional Supreme Council member voting system and the 100% Central Committee rule for the party leader preliminary election were discarded, the 100% Central Committee rule for Supreme Council members, as proposed by the ERC, was accepted.
Regarding this, some speculate that candidates from the current pro-Lee faction group, such as Kim Nam-guk, Yang Yi-won-young, and Lee Soo-jin (Dongjak-eul), who belong to the 'Cheoreomhoe' faction, may be disadvantaged. A first-term lawmaker considering running for Supreme Council told this outlet, “The Central Committee members are people who know the party well and conduct eligibility screening for elected positions based on internal party reputation,” adding, “Lawmakers who only have support from fandom groups may be cut off due to this decision.”
In fact, in the 2016 party leader preliminary election, Song Young-gil, who was considered a top two candidate, was eliminated in the cutoff decided by Central Committee members. In the 2010 party leader preliminary election, candidate Choo Mi-ae was also cut off and failed to even reach the main election. A senior Democratic Party lawmaker said, “The Central Committee is composed of many people well-versed in internal party affairs, so they will consider various political situations when deciding who to eliminate,” and predicted, “There will be many candidates whose fortunes will be decided by the 'cutoff' in the Supreme Council election.”
Song Young-gil, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor, is expressing his concession at the election campaign office set up in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 1st. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group
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