The Democratic Party of Korea said on the 22nd that it would push a plan to expand the participation of dues-paying members in the nomination process for proportional representation candidates in connection with next year's local elections, about seven months away. This is also a "pledge" by Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae.
Leader Jung Chung-rae said at the "third meeting of the local election task force" held at the National Assembly that morning, "Next year's local elections are very important. It is an election in which the forces that destroyed the Constitution by causing the Dec. 3 martial law and rebellion, and the forces that defended the Constitution by achieving a revolution of light with cheering sticks, will face off again," adding, "We must win the local elections overwhelmingly to make sure the rebellion is settled."
He also said, "The so-called 'color matching' between the central government and local governments makes it easier to secure budgets and maintain policy consistency, and can speed up the pace of work," emphasizing, "With victory in the local elections, we should firmly back the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration."
He asked the task force to "thoroughly and three-dimensionally prepare for the local elections, such as by skillfully weaving regional policies into metropolitan-level policies and explaining in simple terms the five-year achievements of local governments affiliated with the Democratic Party."
In particular, he requested, "As we enter the era of party member sovereignty, please actively devise ways for party members to participate together at every juncture leading to victory in the local elections, including the nomination process, policy formulation, and promotion of achievements."
The task force also responded to Jung's request to "expand party member participation." It decided to push a plan to significantly guarantee the participation of dues-paying members in the process of selecting proportional representation candidates, which had previously been decided by metropolitan/provincial party executive committees or local party committees.
Cho Seung-rae, the secretary-general who serves as Director General of the task force, said at the meeting, "In keeping with a party of member sovereignty, we will return the nomination right to party members," adding, "We are preparing to allow dues-paying members to participate in the process of selecting proportional representation candidates. We are also continuing to discuss ways to expand party member participation in the party's candidate selection and election preparation processes."
To guarantee opportunities as much as possible, it will also push measures to minimize cutoffs (exclusion from nomination). Secretary-General Cho added, "If there are three or fewer candidates, we are preparing strong mechanisms to minimize cutoffs," and "We are also reviewing the establishment of a central party nomination grievance hotline to prevent unfair exclusion from nomination."
Cho also explained that they are preparing measures to strengthen candidate qualification screening standards and expand opportunities for youth, women, and candidates with disabilities to participate.
Regarding these four directions for nominations, Secretary-General Cho said, "These are nomination directions that have already been sufficiently discussed and have formed a consensus," adding that they will be finalized through resolutions by the Supreme Council, the party affairs committee, and the central committee.
Rep. Jang Kyung-tae, who chairs the task force's nomination system subcommittee, met with reporters after the meeting and said, "There is considerable consensus that there is nothing major to change from the existing nomination rules," adding, "The disqualification standards without exception are expected to be maintained as in the original plan without any changes."
Earlier, the task force announced a policy that, under the standards of ▲ eligible ▲ ineligible without exceptions ▲ ineligible with exceptions, only those falling under ineligible without exceptions would be fundamentally excluded from nomination (cutoff). For example, those with records of violent crimes such as murder or robbery; those caught drunk driving after the enforcement of the "Yoon Chang-ho Act"; those with prostitution crimes or histories of domestic violence or child abuse; and multi-homeowners for speculative purposes fall under ineligible without exceptions.
The local election task force plans to prepare local election nomination rules, including the method of conducting primaries, methods of recommending candidates, cutoff screening standards, and extra points for women, youth, and people with disabilities, by the end of this month, go through an internal public discussion process, and wrap up by mid-next month.