People Power Party Abolishes Policy Committee Chair Running Mate System... 'Expecting Strengthened Policy Capabilities'

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] On the 22nd, the People Power Party decided to abolish the method of electing the Policy Committee Chairperson as a running mate of the floor leader (joint candidacy election system) and convert the position to an appointed one. With the Policy Committee Chairperson becoming an appointed position, the election engineering-style candidate alliances that balanced regions or factions will disappear, and instead, expectations are rising that the expertise of the Policy Committee will be strengthened.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, the People Power Party held a national committee meeting at the National Assembly and passed a revision to the party constitution and regulations to separately elect the floor leader and the Policy Committee Chairperson. Considering the COVID-19 situation, the meeting was conducted non-face-to-face using YouTube live streaming and ARS voting. The revision to the party constitution and regulations was approved in its original form after ARS voting.

Until now, the People Power Party had adopted a method of electing the Policy Committee Chairperson, who oversees party policies, together with the floor leader. Because of this, candidates running for floor leader were criticized for choosing the Policy Committee Chairperson based on faction or region as part of a vote-winning strategy rather than policy capability.

Even in the 20th National Assembly, Representative Jeong Jin-seok from Chungcheong Province joined hands with former Representative Kim Kwang-rim from Daegu-Gyeongbuk and won the floor leader election. Former Representative Shim Jae-cheol from the metropolitan area also allied with former Representative Kim Jae-won from Daegu-Gyeongbuk to become floor leader. Former Representative Kim Sung-tae, who represented a metropolitan constituency, chose former Representative Ham Jin-kyu, also from the metropolitan area, as his running mate; this combination was interpreted as considering the pro-Lee and pro-Park factions.

Because the Policy Committee Chairperson was decided in terms of regional or factional balance, criticism arose both inside and outside the party that policy capability was lacking. With the revision of the party constitution this time, the Policy Committee Chairperson will be appointed by the party leader after consultation with the floor leader and approval by the party caucus.

With the change in the method of selecting the Policy Committee Chairperson, expectations have grown that even less senior lawmakers with policy capabilities will become the next Policy Committee Chairperson. Representative Chu Kyung-ho (re-elected), a former Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance; Representative Yoo Kyung-joon (first-term), a former Commissioner of Statistics Korea; and Representative Yoon Chang-hyun (first-term), a former President of the Korea Institute of Finance, are representative figures.

The new method of selecting the Policy Committee Chairperson will be applied immediately from the next floor leader election.

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