[Insight & Opinion] The Real General Election Crisis Lies with the People Power Party, Not the Democratic Party

It is common to talk about the crisis of the Democratic Party of Korea. Amid the ongoing ‘Lee Jae-myung judicial risk,’ the party’s approval ratings show little sign of recovery. When the motion to arrest Representative Lee Jae-myung was rejected, the Democratic Party was labeled a ‘shield party.’

The hardline fandom politics that caused the alienation of the centrist voters in the last presidential and local elections still persist, so the floating voters who have withdrawn their support from the Yoon Suk-yeol administration are neither moving to the Democratic Party nor taking a clear stance. Regardless of public opinion on the Yoon Suk-yeol administration or the People Power Party, public sentiment toward the Democratic Party remains cold.

However, the Democratic Party has experience and history of demonstrating the ability to transform in times of crisis before elections. A representative example is when, facing a desperate crisis before the 2016 general election, they brought in Kim Jong-in as the emergency committee chairman and staged a comeback. At that time, Representative Moon Jae-in gave Kim full authority, and Kim even carried out a ‘pro-Moon candidate purge,’ turning the election, which was expected to be a landslide victory for the Saenuri Party, into a win for the Democratic Party as the first party. The Democratic Party is not foolish enough to go into an election as it is now. It is only a matter of time before Representative Lee steps back to a secondary role and entrusts the general election responsibility to a figure with centrist appeal.

The Democratic Party’s transformation ahead of the general election signals a crisis for the People Power Party. It is no exaggeration to say that the People Power Party’s ability to change itself so far has been close to failing. The reason many people chose regime change in the last presidential election was the hope for a new country with a new image. However, the People Power Party has only focused on ‘Yongsan’ and has failed to show any will for self-renewal and change. Most political agendas have come from President Yoon Suk-yeol’s mouth, and the ruling party has been busy following him. It has been difficult to find any effort to serve as a bridge between ‘Yongsan’ and public sentiment and to consider new agendas to open the future that the people want. Did they really believe that people would support an entirely unrenewed conservative party forever?

Still, there seems to be optimism within the People Power Party that their approval ratings in the metropolitan area are ahead of the Democratic Party. However, this is just a misconception based on the assumption that the Democratic Party’s ‘Lee Jae-myung leadership’ is immutable. The moment Representative Lee steps down and a centrist-expansion leadership is established in the Democratic Party, the People Power Party’s enjoyed windfall benefits will disappear. The diagnosis by People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, who said, “Only the president and ministers are visible, but our party and party leader are not,” and “The metropolitan area crisis theory in the general election is a reality,” seems close to reality.

There are many assessments that the direction of state affairs, led by President Yoon and supported by the People Power Party, is increasingly becoming one-sidedly conservative. This leads to the expectation that they will abandon the path of centrist expansion that brought victory in the last presidential election and pursue a grand conservative coalition.

However, if they think they can win the general election solely by consolidating the conservative base, it is a serious misjudgment. Taking the 22nd general election as a confrontation between camps is not only politically unwise but also goes against the will of the public, who are thoroughly tired of politics based on factional conflicts.

Both ruling and opposition parties must gain more support from the centrist voters to win elections; this is the first lesson in any election textbook. Yet, it is common in politics to see complacency where the obvious answers are ignored. This is because ‘cartels’ also exist in politics. If the ruling power does not return to its ‘original intention,’ it now stands at a crossroads where it will lose its way.

Yu Chang-seon, Political Commentator

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