Democratic Party By-election Planning Team 1st Meeting: "The Answer Is to Field the Best Candidate"

The De Facto Abolition of the Party Rule Reducing Nominations for Incumbent Lawmakers: "Not Only Considering By-Elections"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea held a meeting on the 9th to discuss measures in preparation for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections scheduled for April next year.

Kang Seon-woo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, stated in a briefing after the meeting that “we shared the recognition that winning the by-elections next year is essential to complete the Moon Jae-in administration’s national agenda,” and added, “The planning team will plan and execute activities that demonstrate the Democratic Party’s sincerity to party members and citizens.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spokesperson Kang said, “We plan to discuss ways to strengthen the verification of candidates’ morality to ensure even stricter scrutiny going forward,” and added, “At the same time, we will propose a provisional ‘Policy Pledge Task Force’ at the central party level to discover life-oriented policies and urgently resolve local issues.”

He continued, “To promptly present the vision and roadmap for responsible politics, we will regularize weekly meetings by division and plenary sessions,” and added, “We will do our best to realize true responsible politics. We will be evaluated by citizens through the best candidates and policies that change their lives, and be judged by a better life.”

After the briefing, when asked by reporters whether the Democratic Party still feels burdened by the responsibility issue, Spokesperson Kang replied, “The party’s position is to nominate candidates who can best manage administration and are morally sound, and to be judged by the citizens of Busan and Seoul accordingly.”

Regarding the effective abolition of the party rule that deducts votes when nominating incumbent lawmakers for metropolitan local government heads, he said, “There was no separate discussion on this in today’s meeting. However, it was not suddenly changed in August. The Preparatory Committee for the Party Convention had held related meetings,” and explained, “The purpose is to allow more diverse candidates to participate and broaden the choice.” He added, “We did not discuss this solely with the by-elections in mind.”

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