People Power Party, Only 4 Presidential Candidates Advance to Finals... 8 Supreme Council Members

Announcement of Finalists Advancing to the Main Selection on February 10

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The People Power Party has finalized the cutoff (preliminary primary) criteria for the party leader election at the party convention to be held on March 8, setting the cutoff at 4 candidates.

The People Power Party Election Commission held its 6th meeting on the 31st and decided to conduct a cutoff if the number of party leader candidates exceeds 4. The cutoff criteria for Supreme Council members is 8, and for Youth Supreme Council members, it is 4.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After the meeting, Election Commissioner Ham In-kyung told reporters, "Candidate registration will take place on February 2-3, followed by candidate qualification screening on February 5, after which the preliminary primary candidates will be announced." He added, "Then, a responsible party member opinion poll will be conducted over two days, February 8-9, and the final primary candidates will be announced on the 10th." The opinion poll related to the preliminary primary will be conducted with 6,000 responsible party members.

Regarding the reason for setting the cutoff at 4 candidates, Commissioner Ham explained, "Since there are not many candidates, we judged that 5 would be too many, and based on past precedents, we decided on 4."

Meanwhile, the Election Commission sent an official letter the previous day to members of the National Assembly and non-incumbent party district chiefs, stating that according to the regulations for electing the party leader and Supreme Council members, National Assembly members and district chiefs who are not candidates cannot engage in election campaigning. Commissioner Ham said, "Specific prohibitions include participation in candidate election committees, declarations of support for candidates, and attending press conferences."

However, Commissioner Ham also conveyed that the Election Commission did not consider the attendance of National Assembly members and non-incumbent district chiefs at the metropolitan area launch event held by party leader candidate Kim Ki-hyun on the 28th as a violation of party regulations. He added, "Speaking in support on stage or attending press conferences is problematic, but simple attendance is not restricted."