Lee Jeonghyun: "Audition-Style Primaries for City and Provincial Governors Are Not Targeting Oh Sehoon"

Audition-Style Primary Aims to Provide Opportunities for Newcomers
"I Have Never Sided With Any Faction or Clique"

After the People Power Party Nomination Management Committee announced its plan to implement an "audition" system in the selection process for metropolitan and provincial governors—where newcomers would first compete among themselves before finally facing the incumbent—some within the party criticized it as a move to "oust Mayor Oh Sehoon of Seoul." In response, Jung Hyun Lee, Chairman of the People Power Party Nomination Management Committee, stated that "factions or cliques will never be a consideration in the nomination process."

On March 5, after the fifth meeting of the Nomination Management Committee held at the People Power Party headquarters, Chairman Lee told reporters, "As long as I am the chairman of the committee, there will be no consideration of excluding or targeting anyone," and added,"I have never stood with any faction or clique."

Jung Hyun Lee, Chairman of the People Power Party Nomination Management Committee. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier that afternoon, Assemblywoman Cho Eunhee of the People Power Party criticized this primary process on her social media, saying, "A survival primary targeting Mayor Oh Sehoon is not a 'fair opportunity,' but rather a 'primary designed to weaken him,'" and called it an "artificial ouster."

Chairman Lee responded, "When someone who has served for 4, 8, or 12 years (the incumbent) faces a newcomer who has only been active for a few days, the result is obvious," and questioned, "Furthermore, if the remaining candidates end up splitting the vote by 2, 5, or 7 percent each, isn't the outcome entirely predictable even before the primary is held?"

He continued, "(The audition system) is a way for new challengers to build their competitiveness," and emphasized, "We did not consider targeting anyone or calculating advantages or disadvantages at all." He further explained, "It was a decision made after much deliberation, solely to ensure fairness and especially to provide opportunities for those taking on new challenges."

The Nomination Management Committee has decided to introduce the audition-style primary for some regions—where the incumbent metropolitan or provincial governor is from the People Power Party—during the June 3 local elections. In this system, new challengers will compete in the first and second rounds of the primary, and a single finalist will go on to face the incumbent in the final round.

The voting method will differ between the first and second rounds and the third (final) primary. For the first and second rounds, an on-site evaluation panel will be separately recruited and given a 20% weighting, while party members and ordinary citizens will each account for 40% of the vote. For the final round, the votes will be split equally, with 50% from party members and 50% from ordinary citizens.

The on-site evaluation panel will be formed for each party local chapter and will be narrowed down to 63 members to match the local election date. Chairman Lee explained, "Regarding which regions will adopt the audition system, we will carefully review the application status and regional circumstances, and make a decision through committee meetings."

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