Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Main opposition party torn apart even before primary
Main opposition People Power Party presidential contender Rep. Hong Joon-pyo visits a park in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Monday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is being roiled by internal disputes even before starting its primary, as heavyweight contenders are failing to agree on the rules for choosing a single presidential candidate.
Although the discord seemed solved temporarily and ostensibly resolved Sunday, expectations are that the party may face another feud soon over the details on how to measure each contender's competitiveness.
The PPP's election committee unanimously decided to drop four of the 12 contenders in the first round of the primary. To do this, voting by party members will account for 20 percent and that by the general public, 80 percent. The ratio will be 30:70 in the second round, and 50:50 in the final round, respectively. In the final round, the poll will also ask which contender would be the most competitive against rivals from other parties in the actual presidential election.
Initially, the party planned to reflect voting by the general public only in the first round, but this plan faced strong protests from some of the contenders as they claimed supporters of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) or other parties would intentionally choose a contender who could increase the DPK's chance of winning.
Among the 12 potential candidates, four, including Rep. Hong Joon-pyo and former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min, insisted that DPK supporters should be included in the polling, while former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, who has been leading in most public surveys since March, was against this.
Amid the dispute over the issue, election committee head Chung Hong-won offered to resign Sunday apparently due to the conflict among the contenders, but withdrew the offer hours later. To protest the committee's handling of the matter, Hong and Yoo did not participate in a party event it organized ― also on Sunday ― where the contenders were supposed to commit to a fair competition. Following this, the commission set the 20:80 rule.
Some of the People Power Party's (PPP) presidential hopefuls pose while committing to a fair competition in the party's upcoming primary during an event at the PPP headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, Sunday. From left are Hwang Kyo-ahn, Choe Jae-hyeong, Chang Song-min, PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok, PPP election committee head Chung Hong-won, Chang Ki-pyo, Yoon Seok-youl, Won Hee-ryong, Pack Chan-joo and Park Jin. Four other contenders ― Hong Joon-pyo, Yoo Seong-min, Ha Tae-keung and Ahn Sang-soo ― did not participate in the event. Yonhap
Despite the decision, there are chances of further fights between the PPP presidential hopefuls, due to the additional question about the candidates' competitiveness against their rivals in the actual presidential election.
According to a poll by RnSearch released Sunday, Hong secured support of 32.5 percent on the question of who would be the most competitive opposition candidate, beating Yoon (29.1 percent) for the first time in a public opinion poll on the presidential election. Among PPP supporters, however, 53.2 percent picked Yoon, nearly double the 27.2 percent for Hong. This implies that the outcome of the primary could be swayed by how the party's election committee will interpret the responses.
“I will accept the committee's decision unconditionally and fulfill the primary schedule,” another contender Rep. Ha Tae-keung wrote on Facebook. “But I doubt if it is appropriate to introduce questions on competitiveness, which has never been done before in the party's primary. Also, there are chances of further conflict over how to measure competitiveness.”
Rep. Hong said he would accept the committee's decision, Monday, but added, “There is still the chance of a disagreement.”