Yeongdeungpo-gu Eul, Park Min-sik VS Park Yong-chan Primary Election
'New Core Faction' Park Seong-min Lawmaker Faces Kim Jong-yoon and Jeong Yeon-guk in Primary Election
The People Power Party confirmed former Presidential Office Personnel Secretary Lee Won-mo from Yongsan and former Presidential Office Administrator Jo Ji-yeon as candidates for the April general election. Four-term senior lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong, classified as pro-Yoon Seok-yeol, also received a single nomination.
People Power Party's Jeong Young-hwan, Chair of the Nomination Management Committee, is announcing the meeting results at the Yeouido party headquarters on the 26th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the morning of the 26th, the People Power Party's Nomination Management Committee announced two single nominations, one strategic nomination, and three primary election districts at a press conference. Lawmaker Kwon (Gangwon Gangneung City) and former administrator Jo (Gyeongbuk Gyeongsan City) received single nominations, while former secretary Lee (Gyeonggi Yongin City Gap) received a strategic nomination. In Seoul Yeongdeungpo-gu Eul, former Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik, former Yeongdeungpo-gu Eul party committee chairman Park Yong-chan, in Ulsan Jung-gu, lawmaker Park Seong-min, former National Assembly Vice Speaker aide Kim Jong-yoon, former Blue House spokesperson Jeong Yeon-guk, and in Gyeonggi Gunpo City, former Presidential Transition Committee expert Lee Young-hoon and former Gunpo City party committee chairman Choi Jin-hak will compete in primaries.
The Yongsan natives were confirmed as candidates without primaries. Former administrator Jo will face former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Choi Kyung-hwan, a pro-Park faction member running as an independent in Gyeongbuk Gyeongsan City, where first-term lawmaker Yoon Doo-hyun is not running. Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk is classified as a conservative stronghold, but with Choi’s candidacy, it has effectively become a tough district. Additionally, former secretary Lee, who had applied for the Seoul Gangnam-gu Eul district, accepted the party’s request and will run in Gyeonggi Yongin City Gap, considered a tough district in the metropolitan area. However, opposition from local preliminary candidates poses an obstacle. At the press conference, Jeong Young-hwan, chairman of the People Power Party Nomination Management Committee, said regarding local opposition, "We will now have discussions (with the preliminary candidates in Gyeonggi Yongin City Gap)."
However, former Minister Park will compete in a primary in Yeongdeungpo-gu Eul. Former party committee chairman Park said regarding former Minister Park calling Yeongdeungpo Eul a "tough district," "While Yeongdeungpo Eul may be a tough district for former Minister Park, it is by no means a tough district for me and our party committee comrades," adding, "For a winning election, a great nomination is essential, and a fair primary is the only solution."
The pro-Yoon faction’s moves are mixed. Lawmaker Kwon, once called a representative Yoon core figure, is challenging for a fifth term in Gangwon Gangneung City. However, lawmaker Park Seong-min, classified as a "new core figure," will face a three-way primary. Although Park was considered likely to receive a single nomination, he ended up in a primary after former lawmaker Kim Seong-tae called him a "core figure from the Samcheong Education Camp," stirring controversy. Chairman Jeong of the Nomination Management Committee stated, "We will continue to maintain nomination review principles and policies that meet the public’s expectations going forward."
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