Jang Sungho: "People Power Party Has Lost Its Function... Must Elect a Combative Leader for Complete Reform"

"We Must Become a Strong and Clear Opposition Party...
Only Then Can We Protect the People"

With Lee Jaemyung having been elected president in the June 3 presidential election, Jang Sungho, Deputy Spokesperson of the Central Election Countermeasures Committee of the People Power Party, stated, "It is deeply painful that our party failed to elect a president," and added, "We are taking the public sentiment very seriously."

On June 4, during an appearance on YTN Radio's 'News Fighting with Kim Youngsoo,' Jang said, "In this election, the duty of the conservative party was to provide the people with a power of checks and balances," and continued, "But now, both the National Assembly and the executive branch are controlled by the Democratic Party of Korea. The president gives orders to the Democratic Party, and if the Democratic Party drafts and submits legislation, everything passes unconditionally. That is the current structure."

He added, "Our party appealed to the people to help prevent dictatorship, but the public rejected this and instead supported the Democratic Party," and argued, "There will come a day when people will realize just how dangerous a system without checks and balances can be."

Kim Yongtae, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is leaving after watching the exit poll results at the People Power Party's 21st Presidential Election Vote Counting Situation Room set up at the National Assembly Library in Yeouido, Seoul on the 3rd. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding the reasons for the election defeat, he pointed to the 'failure to unify the candidates.'

Jang said, "Even during the impeachment of former President Park Geunhye, when the situation was even more difficult than now, polls showed that if Ahn Cheolsoo and Hong Junpyo had unified their candidacies, they would have led Moon Jaein by 10 percentage points." He continued, "This time as well, if the support rates for Kim Moonsu and Lee Junseok had been combined, we could have won." According to his analysis, the combined vote share of candidate Kim (41.15%) and candidate Lee (8.34%) would have been 49.49%, which could have surpassed President Lee (49.42%).

He further stated, "There was also much criticism regarding the 12·3 Emergency Martial Law and the impeachment process, and the sudden replacement of the candidate after Kim was chosen as the presidential nominee became an issue." He added, "The loss of support from the TK (Daegu·Gyeongbuk) and PK (Busan·Gyeongnam) regions, as well as from party members, was also one of the reasons for the defeat."

Regarding the future direction for party reform, he said, "After losing last year's general election, we shifted to an emergency committee system and then faced the presidential impeachment, and now we've lost the presidential election as well," and evaluated, "The party has currently lost its function as a political party."

Jang emphasized, "The emergency committee system is no longer meaningful. We must elect a new party leader who can fight and resist, and who can stop the Democratic Party's runaway actions, and we must completely transform the party." He stressed, "Only by becoming a strong and clear opposition party can we protect the people."