"Democratic Party to Revive the Nation with Innovative Nominations"… Im Hyuk-baek Confident in Nomination Success

"Innovation and Integration Achieved Through Nomination" Self-Assessment
Democratic Party Incumbent Replacement Rate 27.1%
Nomination Results Briefing by Im Hyeok-baek, Nomination Committee Chair

Im Hyuk-baek, the Chair of the Democratic Party's Nomination Management Committee, presented the rate of incumbent lawmaker replacements on the 8th, stating, "Innovation and integration have been achieved through the Democratic Party's system nomination."

On the same day, Chair Im, Cho Jung-sik, the Democratic Party Secretary-General, and Ahn Kyu-baek, Chair of the Democratic Party's Strategy and Public Relations Committee, held a briefing on the nomination results, which have entered the final stages. Chair Im said, "Out of the current 254 constituencies nationwide, excluding 10 additional open call areas, nomination reviews have been completed for 244 constituencies," and introduced, "The Democratic Party's incumbent replacement rate in primary election areas is a record high of 45%, and the replacement of incumbents through withdrawal and primaries currently stands at 45 members, accounting for 27.1% of the total 166 incumbent lawmakers."

He continued, "Looking at the primary election ratio, there are 74 incumbent lawmakers in primaries, which is 45.1%, approaching a majority. There are 63 uncontested incumbents, but since there are 31 uncontested nomination areas, the uncontested among multiple applicants is only 32 areas, which is less than 20%," he explained. Additionally, he introduced, "Among the 36 senior lawmakers with three or more terms, 14 have been replaced, reaching 38.4%, close to 40%."

Im Hyuk-baek, Chairman of the Democratic Party's Public Office Election Candidate Recommendation Management Committee, is announcing the first-round primary candidates at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th. Previously, the committee conducted interviews over six days from the 31st of last month until the 5th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He cited these achievements, saying, "The People Power Party's nominations saw only 4 replacements among senior lawmakers, showing the invincibility of senior lawmakers, and there were no lawmaker replacements before the vote on the Kim Geon-hee special prosecutor re-examination," and criticized, "Although the People Power Party claims to conduct system nominations, in reality, they are engaging in old-fashioned nominations such as the Kim Geon-hee special prosecutor, Dior bag bulletproof nominations, corrupt nominations, and nominations involving preferential treatment suspicions."

He said, "Various opinion polls in 2023 and 2024 have shown that more than 50% of the public hope for incumbent replacements," and self-praised, "The Democratic Party has realized this public desire for incumbent replacement through this system innovation nomination." He added, "The Democratic Party will judge the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecution regime in the general election on April 10 with candidates selected through system innovation nominations and will save South Korea, which is facing a triple crisis of democracy, economy, and local extinction."

At the briefing, Secretary-General Cho actively denied the widely discussed phrase 'Bimyeong Hoengsa Chinmyeong Hoengjae' (meaning 'Bimyeong's sudden death, Chinmyeong's sudden fortune'), stating that the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction (Chinmyeong) received uncontested nominations, while the anti-Lee Jae-myung faction (Bimyeong) was cut off. He explained based on 54 people who participated in Lee Jae-myung's camp during the last presidential election. Secretary-General Cho said, "Based on this, 20 people received uncontested nominations, 5 were cut off, 4 withdrew, and 1 left the party," and claimed, "Among those who received uncontested nominations, half were uncontested because there were no other applicants."

Regarding criticisms about the lack of transparency in the nomination process, Chair Im explained, "We only received the list of those in the bottom 20% according to the system," and added, "The details cannot be disclosed because the evaluation system is regulated by party rules, so it cannot be artificially shown or revealed."

There was continued contention regarding the specific nomination process. Regarding Lee Gae-ho, Chair of the Democratic Party Policy Committee, who received an uncontested nomination in the Honam primary where primaries are the principle, Chair Im explained, "Chair Lee plays an important role in the party, so it was said that he should receive an uncontested nomination," and added, "We discussed it and unanimously decided to grant the uncontested nomination."

Regarding Kim Woo-young, former Eunpyeong District Mayor and Chair of the Gangwon Province Party Committee, applying for the nomination in Seoul Eunpyeong-gu E, Chair Im said, "There is no legal problem, so the nomination application was allowed and reviewed." On allowing Yang Moon-seok, former member of the Korea Communications Commission, who used derogatory expressions such as 'subak' (watermelon) to disparage anti-Lee Jae-myung lawmakers, to participate in the primary, he said, "It is not clear whether 'breaking the watermelon' is a hateful expression severe enough to disallow nomination."

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