By Yi Whan-woo
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) is looking to change its name, party officials said Thursday.
Rep. Jun Byung-hun, a member of the party’s Supreme Council, said that some 73 percent of its 14,000 senior members have expressed support for the idea of changing the name in a recent telephone survey.
NPAD vice spokesman Kang Hee-yong said a new name will represent the party’s efforts to overhaul its image ahead of the general election next April.
“We’ll take various factors into consideration before selecting a new name,” Kang said.
The party will collect suggestions before making a final decision by mid-January at the latest.
Among the preferred names is the Democratic Party, the predecessor of the NPAD, according to officials.
The NPAD is seeking to find a more public-friendly name amid a deepening internal feud between mainstreamers and those in minority factions.
Factional struggles have tarnished the image of the party with growing concerns that it may have a slim chance of winning in the April parliamentary elections.
“The survey shows that the party members want the NAPD to end factionalism and undergo full-scale reform,” Jun said.
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former NPAD leader who has been at the center of a factional dispute, is known to oppose the idea of changing names.
Ahn, formally an independent lawmaker, played a role in changing the name of the party to the NPAD in March 2014 after joining the then-Democratic Party.