Reform Party nominates Lee Jun-suk for presidential election amid Yoon impeachment uncertainties

The Reform Party noted on the 18th that it has selected lawmaker Lee Jun-suk as its candidate for the 21st presidential election, which will be held if the Constitutional Court accepts the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Chairperson Ham Ik-byeong held a press conference at the National Assembly that afternoon and stated, "As a result of the votes for and against, candidate Lee Jun-suk has been selected as the Reform Party's candidate for the 21st presidential election."

Earlier, the Reform Party accepted preliminary candidates from the 7th to the 10th. When lawmaker Lee registered for the party's preliminary candidacy 'alone,' the registration period was extended by two days, but ultimately, it closed with lawmaker Lee as the sole candidate. Following this, online voting was conducted through the Central Election Commission's mobile voting system (K-Voting) from the 16th to the 17th, and Chairperson Ham reported that these results were obtained. Of the total 77,364 party members, 39,914 members participated in the voting (participation rate 51.59%). Of these, the approval rate was 92.81% (37,046 members), while the disapproval rate was 7.19% (2,868 members).

There are also suggestions in and outside the political sphere that the Reform Party hastily shifted to a presidential election phase, presupposing the impeachment acceptance amid an inability to predict the outcome of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment trial.

In response, lawmaker Lee Jun-suk said during SBS' 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' that "the delay in the impeachment decision is a problem; we are not being fast. Everyone expected the impeachment decision to be made around the 14th, didn't they? Rather than us being fast, it is that the impeachment decision is unusually taking longer." He added, "During the last (19th) presidential election, both the Justice Party and the Democratic Party entered pre-selection before the impeachment was made." He then said, "(If the impeachment motion is dismissed) the candidate will naturally be canceled."

Chairperson Ham also stated, "I think there is no way to avoid an early presidential election, and I thought it would be better for a small party to prepare for a big election in advance," and noted that while there were opinions suggesting haste, there was a precedent during the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye where existing parties moved to select their presidential candidates before the impeachment.