An's Reasoned Rebuttal to the Representative Ineligibility Theory of Presidential Candidates

"Most Former Party Leaders Aim for Presidency"
"Kim Ki-hyun, Misguided Defeatism"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Ju-hee] "Those who have presidential ambitions are (party leader) problematic. When the current power and future power collide, impeachment of the (president), which is too shameful to even mention, is feared. We must elect a leader who can lead the party's stability without selfishness and presidential ambitions."

This is the reason why Kim Ki-hyun, a candidate for the People Power Party leadership, brought up the 'no presidential candidate as party leader' theory in this party convention. Kim is using his competitor Ahn Cheol-soo's ambition for the next presidency as a point of attack. In other words, he claims that as a pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Seok-yeol) faction member who is not interested in party leadership, he is the right person to lead the party.

Kim's argument stems from past experiences. He warns that the party should not repeat the mistakes of division and factional conflicts, which were split into pro-Lee/pro-Park and pro-Park/anti-Park factions, leading to former President Park Geun-hye's impeachment.

At the People Power Party's 3rd National Convention candidate vision presentation, candidate Kim Ki-hyun (right) and candidate Ahn Cheol-soo are seated. [Image source=Yonhap News]

However, from Ahn's perspective, the party leadership election is an election he cannot give up. The unification with President Yoon in the last presidential election, serving as the chairman of the presidential transition committee, and the merger process between the People Power Party and the People Party have all been interpreted as Ahn's grand plan toward the next presidential election. For Ahn, the party leadership is the final step in that process.

In politics, the party leader has been regarded as an essential course toward the presidency. Former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in both served as party leaders before becoming presidents. Hong Joon-pyo, the ruling party's presidential candidate and mayor of Daegu, also served as party leader.

The same applies to the opposition. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is the most likely presidential candidate. Another presidential candidate, former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, also served as party leader.

Ahn's camp argues that the theory of 'no presidential candidate as party leader' is unfair. On the 17th, Kim Young-woo, the election campaign committee chairman of Ahn's camp, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and rebutted, "Kim keeps saying to Ahn that it would be neat if he gave up the presidency, so why can't he let go of his dream? Why should the ruling party's leader be lowered to the level of a local assembly member? That is a very wrong defeatism."

Kim also pointed out, "In the last presidential election, the party had no strong presidential candidate. If even Yoon Seok-yeol had not been there, we could not have changed the regime," and added, "Similarly, there should be many capable and competent future powers in normal times, but are we telling them to give up their dreams? That is why regime creation becomes difficult."

This is not the first time the theory of 'no presidential candidate as party leader' has appeared in a party convention. In July 2014, during former President Park Geun-hye's term, at the Saenuri Party convention, Seo Cheong-won, who had full support from the Blue House and the pro-Park faction, demanded that his competitor, the anti-Park faction's Kim Moo-sung, declare that he would give up the presidency.

At that time, Kim was also a strong next presidential candidate for the ruling party. The result of the party convention was Kim's victory despite the full support of the pro-Park faction.

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