By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) elected Ahn Sang-soo, a four-term lawmaker and confidant to President Lee Myung-bak, as its new chairman Wednesday.
Ahn, 64, will hold office for the next two years, a crucial time for the party as it prepares for the 2012 National Assembly and presidential elections.
The former prosecutor won 4,316 votes, or 20.3 percent of the 21,285 eligible votes.
At the GNP's national convention in a gymnasium in southern Seoul, the top five in the election were picked as members of the conservative party's decision-making Supreme Council.
They are Ahn; Hong Joon-pyo, who won 3,845 votes or 18.1 percent; Na Kyung-won with 2,882 votes (13.6 percent); Chung Doo-un, 2,436 votes (11.5 percent); and Suh Byung-soo, 1,924 votes (9.1 percent).
"As of today, there will be no such thing as the Park Geun-hye or Lee Myung-bak factions," the new chairman said in his acceptance speech.
"I will live up to the expectation of the people, who want change in the party."
Ahn spearheaded President Lee's campaign in 2007 and served as the party's floor leader twice. He is known as a key figure in the faction loyal to the President, with which roughly 100 of the conservative party's 176 lawmakers are affiliated.
Both Ahn and Hong, the runner-up, not only started their career as prosecutors but also entered politics together in 1996.
Of the five Supreme Council members, only Suh belongs to a faction close to Park Geun-hye, the former GNP chairwoman and one of the party's most-touted candidates for the next presidential election.
Observers say the new leaders will face an uphill battle in easing the growing factional feuding.
They also point out that the July 28 National Assembly by-elections will serve as a test-bed of Ahn's leadership within the party, which has also been embroiled in "Yeongpogate," a scandal involving the President's close associates at the Prime Minister's Office over the illegal surveillance of a businessman.
Ahn's predecessor, Chung Mong-joon, stepped down last month to take responsibility for the GNP's crushing defeat in the June 2 local elections, where the party only managed to secure six of 16 mayoral and gubernatorial seats.
During the national convention, the GNP approved a merger with the Future Hope Party which, with eight parliamentary seats, mostly consists of followers of Park.
The merger brought the total number of GNP lawmakers to 176 in the 299-member legislature. The main opposition Democratic Party has 84 seats.
leeth@koreatimes.co.kr