After the Amendment of the Party Election Rules: "No 1 Million Party Members Social Club" vs. "Only Yoo Seung-min Will Rise"

Party Leader Candidate Ahn Cheol-soo Criticizes 'Friendship Group'
Pro-Yoon Faction Lee Cheol-gyu Actively Refutes

Seong Il-jong on Pro-Yoon Unification and Runoff Voting System Suspicion: "Will Boost Excitement and Unite the Party"

Ha Tae-kyung: "President Must Claim No Yoon Influence"

Jeong Jin-seok, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is attending the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 19th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Members of the People Power Party's Emergency Response Committee, classified as pro-Yoon faction, have collectively expressed their welcome regarding the decision to set the party representative election rules as 100% party member voting.

Lee Cheol-gyu, a prominent pro-Yoon People Power Party lawmaker, said in an MBC radio interview on the 20th, "There are clearly one million voters, so can 2,000 general citizens sampled by polling agencies truly represent the sentiments of the general public?" He added, "I believe that direct voting by one million people is much fairer and more objective."

Regarding Ahn Cheol-soo's criticism calling it a 'social club,' he said, "There is no social club with one million members," and criticized, "It is inappropriate to belittle it to the level of a social club."

Yoo Sang-beom also said on KBS radio, "Looking at the composition of party members, those in their 20s to 40s make up about 33%," and "The number of party members in the metropolitan area and Yeongnam region has now become almost equal." He continued, "In the past, when 10,000 delegates were selected and the election was held in a gymnasium, the influence of party branch chiefs or incumbent lawmakers was absolute, but with mobile voting, it is no longer possible to exert as much influence as before," he explained.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding criticism that the runoff voting system is being prepared because unification among pro-Yoon candidates is difficult, Sung Il-jong, the Policy Committee Chair, explained, "We roughly know who the pro-Yoon candidates currently are, but it is not yet concluded whether they will be elected or not." He added, "Rather than finishing with a one-shot vote, if no one exceeds 50%, having the top two go to a runoff would greatly help the excitement. It also gives party members another chance and has the good effect of relatively uniting the party."

On the other hand, Ha Tae-kyung expressed concern that "the Emergency Response Committee's decision will remain a 'dark history'." On BBS radio that day, Ha said, "The party representative election rules should have been debated, but there was none at all," and added, "I am very worried about what is so urgent or pressing."

He continued, "If the candidates cannot reach an agreement, the rules should be applied starting from the next party representative election," and argued, "It is necessary for the President to declare that there is no Yoon influence." He said, "In fact, we still do not know who the pro-Yoon faction is," and added, "Just because someone went to the presidential residence, I am not sure that necessarily represents Yoon's influence." He also said, "Suddenly changing the party representative election rules now seems to favor former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min a lot," and warned, "There will be talk that Yoo Seung-min is being excluded because he is currently doing well in the polls."

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