Internal conflict is spreading within the People Power Party over the local election nomination rules. The party's local election general planning team is seeking to change the nomination rules from the existing "50% party members, 50% public opinion poll" to "70% party members, 30% public opinion poll," and the divide over this is growing.
According to the political community on the 15th, at the People Power Party's closed supreme council meeting held that day, several supreme council members reportedly raised concerns about changing the nomination rules.
The main reason for opposing the change to the nomination rules is a sense of crisis about losing the local elections. The gap in party approval ratings with the Democratic Party of Korea has not narrowed, and reflecting a high ratio of party members' views in nominations could be seen externally as effectively giving up on expanding the base. They argue that the defection of moderates will eventually lead to defeat in the local elections.
A People Power Party lawmaker from the Yeongnam region said, "Raising the share of party members in primaries could appear externally as a willingness to heed only the party base, not public sentiment," adding, "At a time when we need to broaden our base and secure moderates, actions that appear to ignore public sentiment can cause us to lose the local elections. If we lose this time, it will be really difficult."
Some lawmakers have also taken action to oppose changing the nomination rules. The People Power Party's second-term lawmakers' group "Alternative and Responsibility" will hold a forum on the 16th to discuss the local election nomination rules. Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok is scheduled to give a presentation on the theme "Winning strategy for the 2026 local elections learned from past reforms."
Public opposition also continued. The People Power Party's Seoul district party chairpersons, including lawmakers Go Dong-jin, Kim Jae-seop and Cho Eun-hee, said in a statement on the 27th of last month, "A sober assessment is needed of whether prioritizing the party base over public sentiment in deciding candidates is a choice that strengthens our party's competitiveness." Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also noted, "(The People Power Party) is on a path of contraction."
The party's local election planning team plans to gather opinions on changing the nomination rules. Na Kyung-won, who heads the planning team, met with reporters at the National Assembly after a meeting in the afternoon and said, "We mentioned the '70 to 30' rule in terms of preventing cross-voting and reflecting contributions to the party, but there are concerns, so we plan to gather various opinions," adding, "We will compile the views next week and make a final decision."