By Kim Hyo-jin
The minor liberal People's Party will hold its national convention Sunday to elect its new leader who will be tasked with salvaging the party amid dismal public support.
Party members started two days of telephone voting Friday. In the previous online voting between Aug. 23 and 24, 18.95 percent of members participated, the party said.
Their combined results will be revealed Sunday. The new leader, whose term lasts until January 2019, is expected to channel all party resources into the local elections set for June next year.
The candidates are party's ex-presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, ex-unification minister Chung Dong-young, the party's former co-chair Chun Jung-bae, and former party Supreme Council member Lee Un-ju. Polls show Ahn is the election favorite.
Ahn declared his candidacy early this month, ending a three-month silence following crushing defeat in the presidential election. His bid to return to central party politics was controversial among the party's lawmakers as he was seen as responsible for the defeat and a scandal surrounding his campaign.
The scandal erupted in late June over allegations a party member fabricated an election campaign tip-off against President Moon Jae-in's son. The party saw its support rate tumble to a single digit and it has struggled to regain momentum.
Ahn said earlier he could not sit back and watch the multiparty system the People's Party introduced in the 2016 general election deteriorate with the party's weak presence.
Two days before the national convention, Ahn vowed again to put the party back on track, saying his aim is "reclaiming 26.74 percent of the support rate," the percentage of votes the party garnered in the general election.
"If elected, I will push the party to a strong centrist path," Ahn said during a press conference at the National Assembly.
"I will immediately put the brakes on the government and the ruling party when they do things wrong, while actively cooperating with them when I need to," he said, stressing the need to strengthen the presence of the party. "Many will sympathize with my way of doing centrist politics."
Ahn pledged to revise the Constitution to reform the electoral system in a way to back the stable multiparty system.
He also said he would prioritize passing a special bill to investigate the deadly military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Gwangju in 1980, in an apparent bid to appeal to party members in the Jeolla region.
Meanwhile, Rep. Park Joo-sun, the interim party leader, postponed unveiling a party report that studied the reasons for its defeat in the May 9 presidential poll, causing a backlash from the remaining candidates.
"It could be used as reference for the leadership campaign and become a factor of undermining the competition," he said. "So the party's Supreme Council committee decided to hand it over to the new leadership."
In reply, Chun said: "The delay was only because of a certain candidate who is afraid of the report going public."
Lee said there is no reason to keep a lid on the report as a large part of the voting has already been done. "I can't help wonder if it was to protect Ahn," he said.
The minor liberal People's Party will hold its national convention Sunday to elect its new leader who will be tasked with salvaging the party amid dismal public support.
Party members started two days of telephone voting Friday. In the previous online voting between Aug. 23 and 24, 18.95 percent of members participated, the party said.
Their combined results will be revealed Sunday. The new leader, whose term lasts until January 2019, is expected to channel all party resources into the local elections set for June next year.
The candidates are party's ex-presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, ex-unification minister Chung Dong-young, the party's former co-chair Chun Jung-bae, and former party Supreme Council member Lee Un-ju. Polls show Ahn is the election favorite.
Ahn declared his candidacy early this month, ending a three-month silence following crushing defeat in the presidential election. His bid to return to central party politics was controversial among the party's lawmakers as he was seen as responsible for the defeat and a scandal surrounding his campaign.
The scandal erupted in late June over allegations a party member fabricated an election campaign tip-off against President Moon Jae-in's son. The party saw its support rate tumble to a single digit and it has struggled to regain momentum.
Ahn said earlier he could not sit back and watch the multiparty system the People's Party introduced in the 2016 general election deteriorate with the party's weak presence.
Two days before the national convention, Ahn vowed again to put the party back on track, saying his aim is "reclaiming 26.74 percent of the support rate," the percentage of votes the party garnered in the general election.
"If elected, I will push the party to a strong centrist path," Ahn said during a press conference at the National Assembly.
"I will immediately put the brakes on the government and the ruling party when they do things wrong, while actively cooperating with them when I need to," he said, stressing the need to strengthen the presence of the party. "Many will sympathize with my way of doing centrist politics."
Ahn pledged to revise the Constitution to reform the electoral system in a way to back the stable multiparty system.
He also said he would prioritize passing a special bill to investigate the deadly military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Gwangju in 1980, in an apparent bid to appeal to party members in the Jeolla region.
Meanwhile, Rep. Park Joo-sun, the interim party leader, postponed unveiling a party report that studied the reasons for its defeat in the May 9 presidential poll, causing a backlash from the remaining candidates.
"It could be used as reference for the leadership campaign and become a factor of undermining the competition," he said. "So the party's Supreme Council committee decided to hand it over to the new leadership."
In reply, Chun said: "The delay was only because of a certain candidate who is afraid of the report going public."
Lee said there is no reason to keep a lid on the report as a large part of the voting has already been done. "I can't help wonder if it was to protect Ahn," he said.
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