The People Power Party has narrowed the candidates for a new party name to two and, as early as this weekend, plans to finalize the proposal.
The People Power Party brand strategy task force (TF) on the 18th in the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, reportedly briefed People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok and the party leadership on two new party name candidates.
Leader Jang Dong-hyeok was said to have offered no particular opinion after receiving the report on the candidate pool.
One attendee explained that the party logo and signature color will be reviewed comprehensively and refined after the new party name is decided.
The People Power Party plans to submit the party name revision plan to the supreme council early next week and gather opinions at a general meeting of lawmakers.
If necessary, the party is also considering moving up the scheduled supreme council meeting to this weekend in an emergency format to further speed up decision-making.
Through this process, once the final candidate is selected, the new party name is expected to be finalized after approval by the Standing National Committee and the National Committee.
However, among lawmakers, concerns were reportedly raised that revising the party name just over three months before the June 3 local elections would leave voters with too little time to recognize the new name, and that candidates would face a heavy expense burden because they would have to replace all items such as their campaign workers' clothing.
Chief spokesperson Park Seong-hoon met with reporters at the National Assembly that day and said, "One way to show concretely our efforts to broaden the party's appeal is to revise the party name," adding, "Because more than half supported the need to revise the party name in the party-wide vote, it is difficult to reverse that."
Park added, "Next week we plan to finalize the party name and, on Mar. 1, show the public the party's changed look through banners."
The People Power Party conducted an automated response system (ARS) survey from the 9th to the 11th of last month of about 774,000 dues-paying party members to ask their views on revising the party name. With 25.24% responding, about 133,000 (68.19%) expressed support for revising the party name.
Afterward, the party held an open call for both dues-paying members and the general public, receiving about 35,000 ideas, and on the 13th erased the party name and logo from the signboard at the Yeouido central party headquarters.
If the party name change is finalized as of the 1st of next month, the party name "People Power Party," first hoisted in early September 2020, will disappear into history after 5 years and about 6 months.