Democratic Party to Hold Floor Leader Election on 24th... Utilizing Papal Election Method

A candidate winning over two-thirds in the first vote is elected
If none, candidates with over 10% proceed to present platforms before the second vote
In the second vote, a majority winner is elected as the new floor leader

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to hold the next floor leader election on the 24th. Instead of the traditional candidate nomination method, they plan to elect the leader through a so-called 'conclave' (the papal election method), where each lawmaker writes down the name of their preferred candidate.

On the 18th, the Democratic Party's Floor Leader Election Management Committee held a meeting at the National Assembly Members' Office Building and made this decision.

The floor leader election will be held on the 24th at 2 PM, applying the conclave method with repeated anonymous voting among all 172 lawmakers.

If a candidate receives more than two-thirds of the votes in the first round, they will be immediately elected as the floor leader.

However, if no candidate is decided in the first vote, a session will be arranged for lawmakers who received more than 10% of the votes to present their platforms and aspirations as floor leader candidates.

Then, if a candidate receives a majority of votes in the second round, they will be elected as the new floor leader. If no majority is reached in this round either, a runoff vote between the top two candidates from the second round will be held to finalize the floor leader.

Song Ki-heon, a member of the election management committee, told reporters after the meeting, "Electioneering on behalf of others is prohibited," emphasizing that candidates will be selected by carefully considering their own philosophies and plans, regardless of faction.

Song said, "We cannot prevent individuals from expressing their desire to become floor leader," but added, "individual contact is not allowed."

The Democratic Party plans to disclose only the final elected floor leader as a principle and will not separately reveal intermediate election results. Song stated, "The election results will not be disclosed."

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