The Democratic Party of Korea decided to reflect the 'Lee Jae-myung candidate's vote rate' by district in the evaluation of members of the National Assembly in the June 3 presidential election. Amid intensifying internal power struggles under the 'It's Lee Jae-myung' trend, current lawmakers are urged to gather as many votes as possible from their respective districts. This score will be converted into a metric to actively reflect how much they contributed to the presidential election in the nominations for next year's local elections and the next general election. The party plans to form an 'elected public official evaluation committee' centered around the new leadership after the presidential election to embark on the evaluation work.
Kim Yun-deok, the chief deputy of the Democratic Party campaign committee, announced plans including the appointment of the 'Real Korea' campaign committee on the 30th. Kim noted, "In order for the Democratic Party to transform into a party centered on its members, the leadership will properly evaluate (the party activities of each member) and reflect that afterwards," adding, "The intention to focus all energies of the party on the election is reflected in evaluating the parliamentary activities of lawmakers properly."
The party leadership has established guidelines to evaluate lawmakers based on the vote rate of the Lee Jae-myung candidate in each district during this presidential election, the number of street campaign events and meetings with local residents, the details of the meetings, and the extent to which residents' demands are fulfilled, as well as reports on local activities. Kim noted, "We will require reports on how many meetings were held and how substantial they were, and evaluations will be based on that."
Under the current party rules, the Democratic Party reflects the comprehensive evaluation of elected public officials, including district and proportional representatives, based on ▲ legislative activities ▲ local activities ▲ fulfillment of promises ▲ contribution activities, in the nomination process. Among these, 'contribution activities' evaluate the contribution to national elections such as the presidential election. Typically, an 'elected public officials evaluation committee' is formed to take on related tasks, and the highest committee makes the final decisions.
The evaluation of lawmakers is a key issue for the nominations in the next general election. Last year, incumbents who fell into the 'lowest 20%' were excluded from nominations during the 22nd general election. Several influential figures, including former lawmakers Park Kwang-on and Hong Young-pyo, who served as floor leaders, were classified as the 'non-mainstream faction' and were cut off. However, there has never been an evaluation of incumbents based on presidential election vote rates like this before. This indicates a strong emphasis on 'district vote rates' this time.
Cho Seung-rae, the chief spokesperson who serves as the head of the campaign committee, stated, "The nationwide election contribution has always been a criterion for evaluating elected public officials," adding that "This time, it was emphasized particularly with a more urgent mindset to engage thoroughly in the field."