The Democratic Party's National Convention on the 23rd of Next Month... "If No Majority Vote, Runoff on the 28th"

Significant Reduction in Party Leader and Supreme Council Member Deposit
50% Discount for Candidates Under 45 Years Old

The People Power Party decided on the 17th to hold its party convention to elect new leadership on the 23rd of next month. They also plan to reduce the deposit fees for running for party leader and Supreme Council member positions to encourage participation from young politicians.

Seong Il-jong, Secretary-General of the People Power Party, announced this to reporters after a meeting of the party's election management committee held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 17th. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a runoff election will be held five days after the convention, on the 28th of next month.

The candidate registration announcement will be made on the 21st, and candidate registration will take place over two days starting from the 24th. The election period is from the 26th of this month to the 23rd of next month.

K-voting (the government's Central Election Commission online voting system) will be conducted on the 19th and 20th of next month, and the automated response system (ARS) voting will take place on the 21st and 22nd.

Seo Byung-su (fourth from the left), the Election Commission Chairman of the People Power Party's 4th National Convention, is giving an opening remark at the first Election Commission meeting held at the Central Party Office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 3rd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Secretary-General Seong explained that the current deposit for party leader candidates has been reduced from 90 million won to 60 million won, a decrease of 30 million won, and that during the preliminary primary, candidates can pay 20 million won, and if they pass the preliminary primary, they can pay 40 million won in installments.

This appears to be in response to concerns both inside and outside the party that the strong sentiment of "Eodaehan (Anyway, the party leader will be Han Dong-hoon)" and the financial burden might lead to low candidacy rates.

The deposit for Supreme Council member candidates was also lowered from 40 million won to half, 20 million won. For young Supreme Council members, the deposit remains the same at 10 million won, but it has been changed so that they can pay 5 million won during the preliminary candidacy and 5 million won during the final election in installments.

In particular, for those under 45 years old running for party leader, Supreme Council member, or young Supreme Council member, a 50% discount on the deposit will be applied.

The joint speech meetings will be held by regions grouped as Honam region, Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) region, Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) region, Chungcheong region, Seoul metropolitan area, and Gangwon region.