Lee Jun-seok Election Effect?… Reform New Party Surpasses 61,000 Party Members

Since the April 10 general election, the Reform New Party has surpassed 60,000 party members.

According to political circles on the 16th, the number of online party members of the Reform New Party was counted at 61,003 as of that day. It has been three months since the party membership exceeded 50,000 on January 13. The number of party members, which had remained around 56,000 until just before the general election, increased by about 5,000 within a week after the election.

The recent sharp increase in party members is largely attributed to the impact of Leader Lee's constituency victory. With a total of three seats entering the National Assembly, including constituency and proportional representation seats, expectations for growth as a new conservative party are rising. One party member said, "I joined because I wanted to be with the Reform New Party on the path to revive the fallen conservatives."

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform New Party, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Earlier, the Reform New Party rapidly expanded its forces, surpassing 20,000 members just one day after starting recruitment on January 4 this year. Within 10 days of starting recruitment, it gathered 50,000 members, signaling a third force surge.

This momentum was halted after the breakdown of the merger with the New Future Party led by Lee Nak-yeon. In particular, the party faced a crisis as a large number of male supporters in their 20s who supported Leader Lee defected. Although the exact number of members who withdrew their membership at that time was not disclosed, the party leadership took the decline in support seriously, which reportedly influenced the eventual cancellation of the merger.

The Reform New Party plans to elect the next leadership through a party convention next month and begin full-scale expansion. The possibility of changing the party name is also open. The party is also working on securing talent in preparation for the local elections. At the highest committee meeting the day before, Leader Lee said, "We will make special efforts to discover talent and achieve excellent results nationwide in the local elections."