'Overheated Until the Final Round' Yeojeon Party Election, Reasons for Record-High Voter Turnout

55.1% Record High Voter Turnout Boosts Excitement
Yoon Support Battle and Pro-Yoon vs. Anti-Yoon Vote Consolidation
Possible Upset for 1st Place, Runoff Election Also Influential

The final voter turnout for the People Power Party's March 8 party convention reached a record high of 55.10%. This figure surpasses the previous highest final party member turnout of 45.36% recorded at the 2021 convention.

Although there were concerns about the event's popularity due to the controversy over changing the primary rule to 100% party member voting from the start, these worries proved unfounded. More than half of the 800,000 party members participated in the vote, indicating the convention's success in terms of engagement.

What caused such a high turnout? While there are various reasons, the so-called 'Yoon-sim' (President Yoon's influence) controversy dominated as the biggest issue from the beginning to the end of the convention, intensifying factional rivalries and leading to the high voter turnout.

Ahn Cheol-soo (from the left), Hwang Kyo-ahn, Kim Ki-hyun, and Chun Ha-ram, candidates for the party leader of the People Power Party, are holding hands and greeting each other at the 3rd Party Convention Seoul·Incheon·Gyeonggi Joint Speech Meeting held at Goyang Gymnasium in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 2nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The Yoon-sim controversy escalated into allegations of presidential office interference in the primary. A series of events, including former lawmaker Na Kyung-won's withdrawal from the race and the presidential office's public criticism of lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo, gave the impression that the presidential office was backing Kim Ki-hyun, a pro-Yoon party representative candidate. During the party representative candidate debate, sharp exchanges occurred over whether Yoon-sim was involved, and off-stage tensions continued.

As the election structure solidified into pro-Yoon and anti-Yoon camps, the increased consolidation of factions is analyzed as a key factor behind the high turnout. Jang Sung-chul, director of the Public Opinion Center, said in an interview on June 7 with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "I think the high turnout ultimately resulted from a combination of mobilization and anger."

He added, "Supporters of Kim Ki-hyun campaigned heavily with messages like, 'If Kim doesn't win this time, the president is in danger. So we must go out and support Kim to protect the president.' On the other side, people said, 'Is it right for the presidential office to interfere in the party convention? This is not right. Let's punish this,' and that motivated turnout."

The introduction of new party convention rules such as '100% party member voting' and the 'runoff voting system' also contributed to raising turnout. Although Kim Ki-hyun consistently maintained first place in suitability for party representative, candidate Chun Ha-ram, who advocates anti-Yoon positions, showed rising momentum, becoming a new variable. This made it impossible to confirm the likely first-place candidate until the very end.

Competing for second and third place, lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo and candidate Chun are aiming to consolidate anti-Yoon and opposition votes to advance to the runoff between the top two candidates. If the runoff occurs and the anti-Yoon votes unite behind one candidate, even Kim Ki-hyun, who had the highest support rate, cannot be guaranteed victory.

Regarding the historically high turnout, candidates are each offering interpretations favorable to themselves. However, given the various variables and issues intertwined in this convention, it is difficult to predict who will ultimately benefit from the turnout.

The announcement of the party convention voting results is scheduled for 4:45 PM on the 8th.