The People Power Party will elect a new floor leader on the 9th. With weighty internal issues such as a vote of confidence for Jang Dong-hyeok as party leader and the readmission of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, attention is focusing on who will become the new floor leader.
According to political circles on the 7th, the People Power Party will accept registrations for new floor leader candidates that day, hold two days of campaigning, and then hold the floor leader election on the 9th. The race is expected to be a three-way contest.
Current floor leader hopefuls are four-term lawmaker Kim Do-eup (Gangseo, Busan), three-term lawmaker Jeong Jeom-sik (Tongyeong and Goseong County, South Gyeongsang), and three-term lawmaker Seong Il-jong (Seosan and Taean County, South Chungcheong). Jeong is seen as aligned with the party leadership backed by Jang Dong-hyeok, while Kim is viewed as outside the leadership camp. Seong is considered to have little factional coloring.
The biggest issues in the People Power Party floor leader election are expected to be Han's readmission and the question of Jang Dong-hyeok's responsibility. On Han's readmission, all three candidates have taken a cautious stance.
On the other hand, regarding holding Jang accountable, Kim Do-eup and Seong Il-jong say responsibility is needed, while Jeong effectively opposes it, saying, "The party must not be divided."
Once the People Power Party elects its floor leader, the ruling and opposition parties are expected to begin talks on allocating the latter-half standing committee chairperson posts. How the 18 standing committee chairpersonships will be divided between the Democratic Party and the People Power Party, and which party will take the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairpersonship, are the key issues.
Both sides are eyeing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairpersonship, but with the Democratic Party holding a majority and vowing not to give it up, talks are expected to be difficult. All three candidates—Kim Do-eup, Seong Il-jong and Jeong Jeom-sik—have said the People Power Party should take the post.
The Democratic Party could hint at sweeping all standing committee chairpersonships to ratchet up pressure. Some within the People Power Party, however, say that rather than securing a few meaningless chairperson posts, it would be better to hand all of them, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to the Democratic Party.
A People Power Party official said, "The policy failures of the Lee Jae-myung administration will begin to come to light in earnest, so giving all the standing committee chairpersonships to the Democratic Party and framing them as the joint responsibility of the government and the ruling party is meaningful in terms of the fight against the administration," adding, "What is the point of awkwardly taking a few chairperson posts?"