'2020 Anpung' Missing... Only 3 Proportional Representation Seats for the People's Party

Loss of Honam Public Sentiment Due to Third Zone Split
Ahn Cheol-soo's Fatigue from Too Frequent Party Foundings
‘Painful Mistake’ of Election Alliance with Future United Party

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The People’s Party received a dismal result of only 3 proportional representation seats in the April 15 general election. Falling far short of the initially targeted 20% party vote share, it is widely assessed that Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, has seen his standing as a presidential contender significantly narrowed. Political circles cite ▲loss of support in Honam ▲fatigue over frequent party formations ▲alliance with the United Future Party ▲lack of innovation in proportional representation nominations ▲and marathon campaigning as the main reasons for failure.

In the 2016 general election, the People’s Party captured the centrist vote base with Honam as its regional foundation. After Ahn left the New Politics Alliance for Democracy to form the People’s Party, it created a “green wave” by recording a higher party vote share (26.74%) than the Democratic Party of Korea. However, after losing the 2017 presidential election, Ahn pushed for a merger with the Bareun Party, and the People’s Party split into the Bareunmirae Party and the Party for Democracy and Peace. Even after the founding of the Bareunmirae Party, power struggles among the Ahn Cheol-soo faction, Yoo Seung-min faction, and Sohn Hak-kyu faction continued unabated. The division of the third political camp led to the loss of support in Honam.

Even after Yoo Seung-min’s departure, internal strife within the Bareunmirae Party persisted. After losing the 2018 Seoul mayoral election, Ahn stayed in Germany and the United States before abruptly announcing his return to politics last January. Upon returning, Ahn requested the position of emergency committee chairman from then Bareunmirae Party leader Sohn Hak-kyu but was rejected and ultimately resigned from the party. Since entering politics in 2012, Ahn embarked on founding his fourth new party in eight years, which inevitably caused voter fatigue due to the frequency of new party formations.

The electoral alliance with the United Future Party also proved to be a painful mistake. The People’s Party did not field any candidates in constituencies, effectively agreeing to single-candidate races in those districts. By aligning with conservative forces despite positioning as a centrist party, Ahn failed to win the support of centrist voters. All Ahn’s faction lawmakers who left his side before the election to run under the United Future Party?Kim Sam-hwa, Kim Soo-min, Kim Jung-ro, and Lee Dong-seop?were defeated.

The People’s Party’s lack of innovation in nominating proportional representation candidates also contributed to the election defeat. The party placed Ahn’s close aide, former lawmaker Lee Tae-gyu, at number 2, lawmaker Kwon Eun-hee at number 3, and secretary-general Kim Do-sik at number 6, failing to attract voter attention. Only Kim Geun-tae, former head of the Seoul National University branch of the National Democratic Youth Union who led rallies demanding the resignation of Cho Kuk, was placed at number 4, while young candidates were pushed down the list.

In early March, Ahn briefly boosted party support by volunteering in COVID-19 medical efforts in Daegu, but the 430 km national march undertaken this month ultimately backfired. Although Ahn emphasized his promise to the people, he was met with ridicule such as “Nobody knows why he’s running,” making it insufficient to capture voter sentiment.

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