2024 General Election Nomination Rights... Ruling Party's 'Party Leadership Race' Sets Sail

People Power Party, Rapid Amendment of Party Constitution for 100% Member Voting in Party Convention
Candidate Registration in Early January Next Year... Early March Convention Confirmed
Conflict Intensifies Between Pro-Yoon and Non-Yoon Factions

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyunju Lee and Boryeong Geum] The race for the leadership of the People Power Party has officially begun. The party is rapidly pushing through amendments to the party constitution that include electing the party leadership, which holds the nomination rights for the 2024 general election, through '100% party member voting.' As the amendments are seen as favorable to the party mainstream faction, the 'Pro-Yoon' faction (Pro-Yoon Seok-yeol), strong internal opposition is expected to continue causing noise around the leadership competition.

According to the People Power Party on the 20th, the Emergency Response Committee plans to swiftly complete the party constitution amendments by the 23rd through the Standing National Committee and the National Committee. The day before, the Emergency Response Committee unanimously approved the amendment to change the current party convention rule, which elects the party leadership based on 70% party member voting and 30% general public opinion polls, to 100% party member voting. They also decided to introduce a 'runoff voting system' where a second vote is held between the top two candidates if no candidate exceeds 50% of the votes, and a 'reverse selection prevention clause' to exclude supporters of other parties.

Jin Jeong-seok, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is checking his speech before speaking at the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 19th. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The party plans to convene the Standing National Committee on the same day, amend the party constitution through the National Committee on the 23rd, and then launch the Party Convention Preparation Committee (Jeonjunwi) and the Party Convention Election Management Committee. It is also expected that candidate registration will open in early January next year, with the party leadership elected through the party convention in early March of the same year. Park Jeong-ha, the senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, explained, "We had no choice but to run a 100-meter dash this week."

Given that following leadership decisions has become a 'custom' within the conservative party, the passage through the Standing National Committee and National Committee is expected to be relatively smooth. A People Power Party official said, "There have been very few cases where proposals did not pass the Standing National Committee or National Committee," adding, "We expect a 99% approval rate this time as well."

According to the party constitution, the Standing National Committee is composed of up to 100 members to deliberate and decide on major party affairs. Members include chairpersons of standing committees in the National Assembly affiliated with the party, heads of city and provincial party organizations, senior lawmakers elected by the party caucus, and representatives of city and provincial councils affiliated with the party. The National Committee consists of up to 1,000 members, including the party leader, supreme council members, deputy speakers of the National Assembly affiliated with the party, senior advisors, and the secretary-general.

In August, Seo Byung-soo, who was the chair of the Standing National Committee and National Committee, refused to convene the Standing National Committee in protest against the forced establishment of the Emergency Response Committee system after former party leader Lee Jun-seok, but eventually resigned from the chairmanship, stating that he could not be an obstacle to the party leadership.

However, internal conflicts over the party constitution amendments are intensifying. While pro-Yoon faction lawmakers collectively emphasized the necessity of the amendments, leadership contenders considered 'non-Pro-Yoon' strongly opposed them. Ahn Cheol-soo, a leadership contender, directly criticized, "Isn't electing the party leader like electing a neighborhood gang leader or a social club president?" Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min shared a news report titled 'Ruling party, is it fair to move the goalposts and score?' on Facebook. On the other hand, Lee Cheol-gyu, a representative pro-Yoon People Power Party lawmaker, responded in an MBC radio interview to Ahn's social club remark, saying, "There is no social club with one million members," and People Power Party lawmaker Sung Il-jong also said on the radio that "Rather than ending it in one shot, if no one exceeds 50%, having the top two go to a runoff would significantly help the event's success."