Conservatives two weeks behind rival Democratic Party in finalizing nominee
In yet another dramatic twist to the heavy internal strife at the People Power Party, the members on Saturday voted against changing their presidential candidate from Kim Moon-soo to Han Duck-soo, leaving the party leader yielding and offering to resign.
Kim has effectively been reinstated as the conservative party's presidential candidate.
Following the court’s Friday rejection of former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo's request to ban the party from holding a national convention that could potentially replace him with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as presidential candidate, the party leadership had initiated an unprecedented process to replace their nominee on Saturday.
Allowing Han to register with the party overnight, the party convened an emergency committee, decided on the cancellation of Kim's candidacy and set forth follow-up process of a vote of approval by party members.
The move came as the People Power Party leadership rallied behind a "big tent campaign" of the party's strongest figures as the only way to beat liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea.
However, the effort was thwarted after a larger number of the party members reportedly voted against the option of replacing their official candidate. The party did not disclose the actual number of the votes. The vote was conducted on all party members through audience response system from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Upon the votes, the party said Kim’s candidacy has effectively been restored. The party’s interim leader Rep. Kwon Young-se offered to resign saying he would take responsibility of the botched replacement plan.
The PPP has been engulfed in heavy strife with days of talks on merging the candidacies of Kim Moon-soo and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo bearing no progress.
Kim, who had been open to merging candidacy with Han prior to his primary win on May 3, had strongly lambasted the party leadership’s Saturday move as a "midnight political coup," vowing to take legal actions. Apparently emboldened by his primary win, Kim has been demanding a lengthier procedure of a potential merge of candidacy. Kim later in the day filed a court injunction to stop the party from canceling his candidacy.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, the People Power Party's chair, said Kim would remain the party's nominee, while offering to resign. Floor leader Rep. Kwon Seong-dong will be leading the party in his place.
"I apologize for the chaos that I have inflicted over the course of making a unified, big-tent campaign. This has all been my due to my own shortcomings as the party's chair. I take full responsibility, and I will be resigning," Kwon said.
On the party leaders' turnaround, Kim said in a release to reporters that he would lead the party to victory in the coming election. He vowed solidarity with all of his primary challengers as well as Han Duck-soo, the former acting president who briefly challenged his bid as the conservative candidate.
"The People Power Party will be the party of victory. Together, we will chart the path forward for a great South Korea," Kim said.
Han, meanwhile, said in a release that he "humbly accepts and respects the people's decision."
"I sincerely hope that Kim and the People Power Party will come out the winners this election," Han said.
The People Power Party's nomination flip-flop, which lasted around 19 hours, unfolded just a day before the final deadline for filing presidential candidate registration with the National Election Commission on Sunday.
The People Power Party is far behind the rival Democratic Party of Korea, which finalized its nominee, Rep. Lee Jae-myung, more than two weeks ago. While the People Power Party was mired in a feud over its nomination, Lee has been touring around the country meeting voters face-to-face and getting his campaign in order.
Kim and the People Power Party have 23 days left until June 3, the day of the election, to begin organizing the campaign and hitting the trail. Early voting takes place May 29-30, which gives them even less time to catch up to Lee's head start.
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