[Nomination Analysis] People Power Party Incumbents 34.2% Replaced... Reallocation Rather Than Cutoff

Democratic Party Nomination Controversy vs. People Power Party's Pursuit of 'Quiet Nomination'
Incumbent Lawmaker Reallocation Aims to Reclaim Tough Districts

The People Power Party replaced one out of three incumbent lawmakers during the nomination process. Instead of promoting political newcomers, they pursued a 'quiet nomination' strategy by reallocating incumbents to challenging districts. There was also an incident where a nomination decision was reversed amid bribery allegations.

Jeong Young-hwan, Chairman of the People Power Party's Nomination Management Committee, is giving an opening remark at the first Nomination Management Committee meeting held on the 16th at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

As of the 22nd, the People Power Party nominated 75 incumbent lawmakers in 254 constituencies. This includes 74 district candidates and 1 proportional representation candidate. With 39 out of 114 incumbents unable to run in this general election, the incumbent turnover rate was calculated at 34.2%. The party's predecessor, the United Future Party, recorded a turnover rate of 44.6% in the 21st general election in 2020, and another predecessor, the Saenuri Party, had a turnover rate of 23.8% in the 20th general election in 2016. Compared to the 21st general election, the People Power Party reused incumbents rather than putting new faces at the forefront in this election. Lawmaker Kim Ye-ji broke the unwritten rule of 'not serving consecutive terms as a proportional representative' by receiving the 15th spot, a winning position, on the proportional representation candidate list of the People Power Party’s satellite party, Future Korea.

The People Power Party emphasized that this nomination was a 'systematic nomination' and created an environment favorable to political newcomers. First, youth candidates aged 34 or younger received up to a 20% bonus in the primary election vote share, and those aged 35 to 44 received up to a 15% bonus. Conversely, incumbents with three terms in the same district had 15% deducted. Incumbents who ranked 'above the bottom 10% but below the bottom 30%' in evaluations faced up to a 20% deduction during the primary, meaning some incumbents competed with their vote shares reduced by 35%. It is known that 18 incumbents in the People Power Party fell into the 'above bottom 10% but below bottom 30%' category.

Nevertheless, political newcomers failed to overcome the incumbent barrier. Although the People Power Party introduced a public recommendation system, it did not yield satisfactory results. Among the five candidates nominated through the public recommendation system (Seo Myeong-ok, president of the Korea Public Organization Bank, Gangnam-gu Gap, Seoul; Park Soo-min, former director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Gangnam-gu Eul, Seoul; Choi Eun-seok, former CEO of CJ CheilJedang, Dong and Gunwi Gap, Daegu; Woo Jae-jun, lawyer, Buk-gu Gap, Daegu; Kim Sang-wook, lawyer, Nam-gu Gap, Ulsan), only two were aged 45 or younger, and none were in their 20s. On the 28th of last month, Jung Young-hwan, chairman of the People Power Party’s nomination committee, said at a briefing, "It seems incumbents defended their positions more than expected," adding, "The vote share for newcomer candidates is somewhat low. Incumbents have merit, and newcomers need to put in effort to challenge."

The People Power Party chose to reallocate incumbents rather than cut them off (exclude them from primaries). Compared to the Democratic Party, which faced nomination controversies, the strategy was to win public sentiment through quiet nominations. The People Power Party reallocated eight lawmakers: Seo Byung-soo (Busan Buk-gu Gap), Park Jin (Seodaemun-gu Eul, Seoul), Kim Tae-ho (Yangsan-si Eul), Cho Hae-jin (Gimhae-si Eul), Park Sung-joong (Bucheon-si Eul), Lee Yong-ho (Seodaemun-gu Gap, Seoul), Yoo Kyung-joon (Hwaseong-si Jeong), and Tae Young-ho (Guro-gu Eul, Seoul). The reason was to reclaim challenging districts.

There was also noise caused by nominating an incumbent involved in corruption and then canceling the nomination. Jung Woo-taek, a People Power Party lawmaker who was running for the Sangdang-gu district in Cheongju, became embroiled in a bribery scandal after CCTV footage appeared to show him receiving an envelope of money from a local businessman during the nomination process. Earlier, the People Power Party’s nomination committee had concluded that there was no problem with his nomination. However, following continued reports, the committee canceled his nomination. Jung declared that he would not run in this general election.

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