The Ruling Party Convention Washed Away by the Monsoon Rains

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Democratic Party of Korea's August 29 leadership election is experiencing a slump in popularity due to the aftermath of COVID-19 and flood damage caused by heavy rains. As the election atmosphere cools, the interests of each party leadership candidate diverge, with evaluations emerging that candidate Lee Nak-yeon, who has formed a "dominant trend," has become more advantageous.

According to the Democratic Party's leadership election preparation committee on the 12th, the joint rallies originally scheduled for the Honam and Chungcheong regions the previous day were canceled and replaced with online rallies. As flood damage continued nationwide, the decision was made to suspend all election campaigning this week and focus on flood recovery efforts.

Due to COVID-19, the leadership election is being held in an "untact" (non-face-to-face) manner, so a lack of enthusiasm was somewhat expected, but recent nationwide flood damage has further decreased attention toward the election.

The cancellation of the rallies inevitably deepens the candidates' concerns. In particular, Honam has the second-largest number of Democratic Party members after the metropolitan area and has been considered the "biggest battleground" in this election, so candidates have had to revise their strategies.

Especially, the camp of candidate Kim Boo-kyum, who had shown confidence in debates so far, responded somewhat sensitively. Kim's campaign stated in a press release the previous afternoon, "We have officially communicated to the party's preparation committee and election commission that we find it difficult to accept the decision to completely cancel the joint rallies and TV debates in the Honam and Chungcheong regions."

Kim's campaign added, "We agree with the decision itself by the preparation committee to cancel the joint rallies due to flood damage," but said, "Honam and Chungcheong are the roots of our party and have been the battlegrounds that brought victory to the Democratic Party in every election. Completely canceling the joint rallies in these regions is very regrettable to the delegates and party members there." They continued, "It is even harder to accept the cancellation of the TV debates in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong regions."

Kim's stance appears to reflect the judgment that it will be difficult to overturn the "Lee Nak-yeon dominant trend" under the current circumstances. A political insider said, "To revive the atmosphere and shake up the game, rallies and debates are necessary, but opportunities for that are decreasing. In other words, it is difficult to create a turning point to overturn the dominant trend," adding, "It seems that the situation is developing in favor of the frontrunner."

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