Lee Jun-seok Aiming for 'Gwangbak' and 'Pibak'... Completing the Winning Formula for the Presidential Election

Increasing Party Members, Presidential Candidates Mobilize for Dual-Track Election Strategy
35,000 New Party Members Added
Presidential Bids Announced One After Another from Hwang Kyo-ahn to Yoon Hee-sook

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Jun-i] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is steadily revealing his formula for victory in next year's presidential election. With prominent figures within the party announcing their candidacies one after another, an exciting presidential primary race is underway, and efforts to increase party membership are also accelerating, solidifying the foundation of the People Power Party. As both ‘Gwang’ and ‘Pi’ accumulate, attention is focused on what kind of outcome will emerge in next year's presidential election.

Lee Jun-seok, Leader of the People Power Party. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

According to political circles on the 3rd, Lee's strategies of ‘Gwang’ and ‘Pi’ are both showing tangible results. Earlier, on the 25th of last month, after having dinner with former United Future Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn, Lee explained his presidential election strategy by comparing it to the Korean card game Go-Stop. At that time, Lee said, "Gathering many party members and expanding the party's power is like scoring with ‘Pi’," and "Having many presidential candidates is like going for ‘Gwang’, and it looks like we are going beyond 5 Gwang to 10 Gwang."

In fact, Lee is pursuing both strategies of scoring with ‘Pi’ and with ‘Gwang’.

◆ Scoring with ‘Pi’: Rapidly doubling party membership to even change the party’s constitution = First, since Lee took office, the People Power Party has been rapidly increasing its party membership.

According to the People Power Party, from May 31, just before the party convention, to the 25th of last month, approximately 35,000 new party members were added. Park Sung-joong, chairman of the Seoul City Party Committee, said at a meeting with the Seoul Metropolitan Council on the 2nd, "Before the party convention, the number of new members was about 600 per week, but after the election period, it increased by 3,000 per week," adding, "The growth rate is more than five times." Especially, the proportion of party members is rapidly increasing in the metropolitan area, changing the previous composition where the majority of members were from the Yeongnam region.

Considering that the existing People Power Party membership was about 330,000, this represents an increase of over 10%. The previously skewed composition of members toward Yeongnam and those aged 60 and above can now change. This lays the foundation for becoming a nationwide party. Moreover, the increase in party members strengthens the party’s financial conditions through increased membership fees and thickens the support base.

This can also narrow the gap between party sentiment and public sentiment. When party members are concentrated in certain age groups and regions, the gap between party sentiment and public sentiment is large. However, as party membership rapidly increases in the metropolitan area, this gap can be narrowed. This can be an attractive factor for candidates concerned about the gap between party sentiment and public sentiment in the presidential primary. Lee expressed in an interview with Asia Economy on the 27th of last month that as party membership increases, sampling issues and others can be improved. He said, "The proportion of young people has significantly improved," and "Considering the high turnout of young party members, adjustments will be made."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This result also contributes to scoring with ‘Gwang’. The closer party sentiment is to public sentiment, the more it can attract external candidates who hesitate to join the party to participate in the primary. Regarding the primary rules, Lee showed great interest in increasing the proportion of public opinion polls but focused more on increasing party membership.

◆ Scoring with ‘Gwang’: Candidates from the right to the center, gather all = ‘Gwang’ is also rapidly increasing. On the 2nd, Representative Yoon Hee-sook, who gained nationwide attention with her speech titled "I am a tenant," declared her challenge for the presidential primary. As a first-term lawmaker with a background in economics and just over a year into politics, Yoon’s presidential bid is providing fresh stimulus to the primary race. Lee welcomed her challenge via social media, saying, "Our party’s economic expert Representative Yoon’s challenge is like the essential garnish in bibimbap."

Lee has actively supported presidential candidates within the party. For example, he has shown support for former United Future Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is the most conservative among the presidential candidates, in his primary activities. These efforts are based on his bibimbap theory, aiming to unite the support bases of various factions inside and outside the party.

Besides Representative Yoon and former leader Hwang, Hong Joon-pyo, former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, lawmakers Ha Tae-kyung and Kim Tae-ho, and former Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo are preparing for next year’s presidential election. Outside the party, there are former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choi Jae-hyung, former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Kim Dong-yeon, and Jang Sung-min, chairman of the World and Northeast Asia Peace Forum. Also, Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, which is currently discussing a merger, is considered a presidential contender.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the past, Lee also argued during his time in the Bareunmirae Party that it was possible to score with ‘Gwang’. Despite having only 20 seats, with strong presidential candidates like Sohn Hak-kyu, Ahn Cheol-soo, and Yoo Seung-min, he hoped to overturn the situation. If the primary was managed well, it could attract public attention and potentially shake up the election landscape. However, the result was different. Lee self-critically said, "In the end, the three did not cooperate properly and failed."

But he believes this time is different. He said, "Now, I think we can go beyond 5 Gwang to 10 Gwang," and "My role is to skillfully connect them so they can cooperate." As the leader of the main opposition party and with past experience of failure, he intends to organize the stage so that they can also score with ‘Gwang’.

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