Joo Ho-young: "Seoul Mayor Candidate Primary Must Increase Public Participation to Be Competitive"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the Future United Party, stated regarding the selection of the Future United Party candidates for the Seoul mayoral and Busan mayoral by-elections, "There is competitiveness only if the process involves participation from many citizens."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the 23rd, Floor Leader Joo appeared on a special interview with a local private broadcasting station and said, "We are actively looking for methods such as holding a national participation primary, selecting candidates within the party and then having a complete national primary where the public makes the final choice."

He added, "Currently, the primary rule is 50% party member voting and 50% public opinion polling, so those with a party base are more likely to become candidates," and said, "Then, the process may not be very inspiring." Floor Leader Joo further said, "Like Mistrot, where someone who was not very noticeable was re-evaluated and became a popular singer, if we inform the public about the process of creating candidates, excellent candidates will emerge."

Regarding the realization of the Future United Party's platform and policy of banning four-term consecutive re-election of members of the National Assembly, he criticized it as "a very pointless debate."

Floor Leader Joo pointed out, "Incumbents are counted as first-term regardless of their actual terms, so the time when the four-term ban would apply is 12 years later. It won't be maintained just because it is decided now, and it is a fruitless matter."

He emphasized, "If forced to retire, the competitiveness of the National Assembly will significantly decline," and added, "There is also criticism that the reason the legislature cannot effectively check the executive power is because there are many first- and second-term lawmakers."

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