'Proportional No. 3' Kwon Eun-hee: "No Influence from Ahn Cheol-soo at All"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Kwon Eun-hee, a member of the People’s Party, stated on the 24th in response to criticisms that close aides of Ahn Cheol-soo were concentrated in the proportional representation winning positions, “Last Sunday, the rankings of the proportional representation candidates were released, and after seeing that, I thought the nomination management committee chairman had a very aggressive and proactive election strategy in placing the candidates.”

Through MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus,’ Rep. Kwon said, “I clearly understood what roles are required of incumbent lawmakers,” adding, “From the nomination committee’s perspective, the entire list is considered to be people who should win, so overall, assigning roles is important. However, placing candidates at the front or back does not seem to have significant meaning in terms of election strategy.”

Regarding the possibility of Ahn’s influence, Rep. Kwon emphasized, “There was absolutely none,” and said, “The Supreme Council firmly stated and maintained that it has no decision-making authority.”

On the party’s approval ratings, Rep. Kwon said, “Naturally, there can be differences between the personal approval rating of (Ahn Cheol-soo) and the party’s approval rating, and it is the party’s responsibility to connect the individual’s support to the party’s support.”

The People’s Party finalized the list of proportional representation candidates for the 21st National Assembly election on the 23rd. However, with Ahn’s close aide, former lawmaker Lee Tae-gyu, placed second and Rep. Kwon placed third, criticism has arisen both inside and outside the party that the expected innovative nominations are far from reality. On the People’s Party website, criticisms poured in such as “There is no innovation, only Ahn Cheol-soo’s closest aides holding onto their positions,” “In one word, it’s self-nomination,” “I feel a sense of self-loathing wondering if I supported Ahn Cheol-soo all this time just to see this,” and “Is loyalty the concept?”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.