Joo Ki-hwan, Former Gwangju Chairman of the People Power Party, Withdraws as Proportional Representation Candidate for Satellite Party

"Proportional Representation Priority Recommendation Rule for 25% Honam Figures Not Followed"

24th Name Listed... "Gwangju Figures Completely Excluded" Claim

Joo Ki-hwan, former chairman of the People Power Party’s Gwangju Metropolitan City Party Committee, announced on the 18th that he would withdraw his candidacy as a proportional representation candidate for the People’s Future, a satellite party of the People Power Party.

Former Gwangju Party Chairman Joo said, “According to the announcement by the People’s Future Nomination Management Committee, there was no consideration for Gwangju at all,” and added, “I will withdraw my candidacy as a proportional representation candidate.”

He continued, “The People Power Party’s party rules include a provision to prioritize 25% of proportional representation candidates from Honam, but Gwangju was completely excluded in this nomination,” and claimed, “The party has broken its promise to the party members.”

He also said, “In the last Gwangju mayoral election, I received the highest vote share (15.9%) among conservative parties, and I have done politics solely focused on the citizens of Gwangju and the development of Gwangju,” adding, “As the party chairman, I wanted to give hope to young party members and aspiring politicians in Gwangju, change the political landscape of Gwangju, and achieve Gwangju’s development, but I am very sorry that this could not be realized.”

He added, “I would like to express my gratitude to the party members and citizens of Gwangju who trusted and supported me despite all my shortcomings.”

Meanwhile, People’s Future announced the list of 35 proportional representation candidates for the 22nd National Assembly election on the same day.

Candidate Choi Bo-yoon, a human rights commissioner at the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled, was recommended as number 1 on the proportional representation list, and candidate Park Chung-kwon, a North Korean defector and senior researcher at Hyundai Steel, was recommended as number 2.

Number 3 is Choi Su-jin, a special professor at Korea Polytechnic University, and number 4 is Jin Jong-oh, Olympic shooting gold medalist and chairman of the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Former People Power Party Innovation Committee Chairman In Yo-han was listed at number 8. Former Chairman Joo’s number is 24.

Meanwhile, it is known that a total of 530 candidates applied for the People’s Future proportional representation. The Nomination Management Committee stated that proportional representation candidates were selected based on perspectives such as whether they are talents who can empathize and be understood from the public’s viewpoint, whether they have sufficient capability to address various issues facing South Korea based on expertise, and whether they can improve even the detailed aspects of people’s lives based on this.