The Democratic Party of Korea will hold the 8·2 national convention regional primary in the Yeongnam area on 20th.
On this day, the results of the voting by party members will be disclosed. Attention is focused on whether candidate Jeong Cheong-rae will confirm his advantage in the party sentiment following the previous day's Chungcheong region primary, or whether his competitor, candidate Park Chan-dae, will create a turnaround momentum.
The two candidates will present their platforms through a joint speech session in Yeouido on this day. The Democratic Party is also expected to announce the results of the Yeongnam region party member voting afterward.
The primary held on this day, including candidate Hwang Myeong-seon, who is running unopposed for the top committee member position, will be conducted online, considering the heavy rain situation, just like the previous day.
The Democratic Party leader will be elected based on a ratio of 15% from delegate votes, 55% from party member votes, and 30% from the general public.
In the regional primary, only the votes from party members, which hold the highest weight, will be disclosed. After that, at the 8·2 national convention, the results of delegate and general public votes will be combined to determine the final winner.
Candidate Jeong received 62.77% of the votes in the previous day's Chungcheong region primary. Candidate Park only managed to obtain 37.23%.
Candidate Jeong intends to maintain the momentum in the remaining primaries, including the Yeongnam region.
Candidate Park plans to emphasize reform, clarity, and expandability to counterattack.
Within the party, there are prevailing observations that candidate Park holds an advantage in delegate votes, including those from National Assembly members.
Initially, the Democratic Party planned to conduct regional primaries at local venues from the 19th to the 20th, but due to localized heavy rain that fell across the nation, they canceled the in-person event and replaced it with an online event.
Candidates will also scale down their national convention campaign schedules and focus on disaster recovery support.
Candidate Jeong said the previous day, "I apologize even more for this national convention during such times," adding, "I will cancel most schedules except for those that are absolutely necessary and protect the disaster areas. I will strive for a swift declaration of the special disaster zone."
Candidate Park said, "Now is the time to postpone any politics or calculations," adding, "It is the minimum responsibility of the ruling party to match the speed of President Yoon's quick directives and excessive recovery efforts."