Why Was the Ruling on Jeon University Rule Revision Postponed? ... Last-Minute Disagreements and Low Attention Blamed

Public Opinion Reflection Ratio 7:3 and Single Leadership System Emerging
Chairman Yeo Sang-gyu "Results Announced on the 12th After Coordination"
Ruling and Opposition Parties Impacted by National Assembly Organization Conflict

The People Power Party's Special Committee on Amendments to the Party Constitution and Rules had planned to finalize and announce the rules for the upcoming party convention next month on the 11th but postponed it by one day. The intention is to minimize controversy by reaching unanimous agreement on the proportion of public opinion reflected and the leadership system by the committee's deadline on the 12th. Additionally, there was concern that the party convention might not attract much attention as political focus is currently on the organization of the 22nd National Assembly.

On the morning of the same day, Yeo Sang-gyu, Chair of the People Power Party's Special Committee on Party Constitution and Rules, told Asia Economy that the reason for postponing the announcement of the rule amendments was, "We will coordinate the parts where there are differences of opinion. Since the party has set the activity deadline as Wednesday (the 12th), we judged there is no need to bring the announcement forward by a day," adding, "We will continue meetings today and announce the results on the 12th."

So far, the likely plan is to revise the proportion of public opinion reflected in the party convention vote to '7 (party member votes) to 3 (national public opinion survey)' while maintaining the current single leadership system. Since it was confirmed in the last general election that party sentiment did not align with public sentiment, the proposal is to revert from the '100% party member vote' rule applied in the March 8 party convention last year back to the existing 7-to-3 rule. However, to prevent adverse selection, only responses from People Power Party supporters or independents will be reflected in the national public opinion survey. It is also known that some within the special committee and ruling party suggest the public opinion reflection ratio should be 8 to 2.

Yeosangyu, Special Committee Chairman for the Revision of the Party Constitution and Rules of the People Power Party, is speaking at the first meeting of the Special Committee for the Revision of the Party Constitution and Rules held at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul on the 4th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The 'dual leadership system' proposed by Hwang Woo-yeo, Chair of the People Power Party's Emergency Response Committee, is expected not to be adopted. Within the party, criticism such as "the leadership could become a mere figurehead" and "is this to check the non-mainstream party leader?" has emerged, tipping the balance toward maintaining a single leadership system. Chair Yeo stated, "There are still many disagreements. If coordination fails, we will proceed with the current party rules and maintain a single leadership system," adding, "While the dual leadership system holds considerable value, it was strongly opposed at the members' meeting the day before."

The ongoing clashes between the ruling and opposition parties over the organization of the 22nd National Assembly, continuing from the previous day, are also reported to have influenced the postponement of the announcement. The People Power Party decided to hold the party convention on the 23rd of next month, ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics and the Democratic Party's convention, to maximize the convention's impact. However, the election of 11 standing committee chairs in the National Assembly was pushed through the previous day despite the ruling party's absence, and the ruling party even submitted a resolution urging Speaker Woo Won-shik to resign, resulting in the party constitution and rules amendments, which are part of the convention preparation, receiving little attention. A special committee official explained, "When we tried to bring the announcement forward by a day, the Democratic Party had already monopolized the standing committees," adding, "Since political news is all about this (National Assembly organization), there was even an opinion within the committee to delay the announcement by a day."