The Democratic Party of Korea decided to push ahead with a revision to the nomination rules for the June 3 local elections next year, adjusting the vote weighting for selecting basic council proportional representation candidates to 50% for standing committee members and 50% for dues-paying party members. This is a modified plan drawn up after an amendment to the party constitution and rules that would have reflected "100% dues-paying member votes" for both metropolitan and basic proportional seats was voted down at the Central Committee on the 5th.
Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae said at the Supreme Council meeting on the 8th, "We will introduce a revised bill to amend the party constitution concerning local election nominations and promptly resubmit it to the party affairs committee and Central Committee for processing."
The revised plan includes reflecting 50% from standing committee members—who are members of the city and provincial party decision-making bodies—and 50% from dues-paying party member votes when assigning ranks to basic proportional representation candidates. However, for metropolitan proportional representation candidates, the existing party constitutional amendment of "100% dues-paying member vote reflection" will be maintained.
After the party constitutional amendment failed to meet the quorum and was voted down at the Central Committee on the 5th, leader Jung said, "We will ease the provisions that local chapter heads are somewhat reluctant about and bring them to a Central Committee vote as soon as possible." Over the weekend, the local election planning task force drew up this revised plan, which was approved at the Supreme Council meeting that day. The Democratic Party plans to approve the revised plan at the party affairs committee in September and resubmit it to the Central Committee.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party decided to hold the by-election for Supreme Council members, prompted by the local election bids of lawmakers Jeon Hyun-hee, Kim Byung-joo, and Han Jun-ho, on the 11th of next month. Eligible voters are party members who joined by May 31 this year and "paid party dues at least six times during the one-year period from Dec. 1, 2024, to Nov. 30, 2025." The vote weighting will be 50% for Central Committee members and 50% for dues-paying party members.
Lee Jae-young, the Yangsan-gap district chapter head in South Gyeongsang Province, has been designated as the new head of the Democratic Research Institute. Lee, an economist who served as president of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), entered politics as a recruited talent for the Democratic Party in the 21st general election.