Ruling party solidifies power base for Park GH ahead of presidential race


Former floor leader and veteran lawmaker Hwang Woo-yea was elected on Tuesday to head the Saenuri Party, taking on the challenges of calming a factional rift and helping the party win the presidential election.

In the ruling party’s national convention, Hwang grabbed an overwhelming 30,027 of the 35,184 valid ballots to become the top-rated Supreme Council member and party chair.

The other four winners of the nine-horse race were Lee Hye-hoon with 14,454 votes, Shim Jae-chul with 11,500, Chung Woo-taek with 11,205 and Yoo Ki-june with 9,782. Multiple votes were allowed.

Shim was one of the two candidates representing the pro-Lee Myung-bak group, a rival to the mainstream pro-Park faction.

The new leadership is expected to bolster support for presidential frontrunner Rep. Park Geun-hye in the lead up to the presidential election in December.

“I will give the utmost priority to the livelihood of the people and push forward tailored policies so that every wish of every people can become that of the Saenuri Party,” Hwang said in his victory speech.

He highlighted harmony as the party’s key slogan and called for more modesty and determination to change, particularly ahead of the presidential election.

“I will work so that the people of the Republic of Korea can become as proud as they should be,” Hwang added.

He also took time to ask for the participants’ applause for his contenders thanking them for a fair race.

The new supreme councilors with two-year-term will be tasked with managing a fair primary before the Dec. 19 presidential election, in addition to fighting off offensives from the opposition forces.

The first task for former floor leader Hwang, joined by his successor Lee Hahn-koo, will be to negotiate the formation of the 19th National Assembly with the opposition Democratic United Party.

Thousands of party members, lawmakers-elect, delegates and foreign envoys to Korea gathered at the exhibition hall in KINTEX, Ilsan, to see the election of the five members of the Supreme Council.

As a non-factionist, Hwang received keen support from reform-forward party members, and was considered able to quell rising internal dissatisfaction toward Park’s overriding authority.

The former judge with constitutional expertise has also been praised for his leadership that helped close the 18th Assembly by reaching a compromise with the DUP in the contentious National Assembly Act revision aimed at curbing violence at parliament. Hwang won his fifth term in an Incheon constituency for the next Assembly.

Hwang was closely tailed by Lee Hye-hoon, a close associate of Park Geun-hye. Lee automatically secured her seat at the Supreme Council by being the only female candidate. The party charter dictates that at least one member is a woman.

Lee, a second-term lawmaker and an economic expert, has headed the Park campaign situation room, even after she lost her nomination in the April 11 parliamentary race.

The atmosphere, however, was relatively toned down at the convention as campaigners for each candidate refrained from parading with musical instruments as had usually been done, and instead clapped and chanted slogans.

The low 14.1 percent voter rate at pre-polls of party members nationwide also indicated a more constrained mood in the ruling party that is challenged by low popularity among younger and urban voters.

Votes by party members, delegates and citizens accounted for 70 percent of the results, while opinion polls counted for 30 percent.

So far, Park Geun-hye is challenged by a number of veteran Saenuri members, including Reps. Lee Jae-oh and Chung Mong-joon, Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Moon-soo, former Incheon Gov. Ahn Sang-soo and former presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee.

With the formation of the new leadership heavily leaning toward Park, the challenge from her contenders is likely to intensify until the party’s primary expected around August.

“If we fail to win the next (presidential election), we may never have the opportunity again,” Park Geun-hye said in an opening speech.

“We must accurately figure out and find solutions as to why we failed to earn 100 percent of trust from the people in the April 11 general election,” Park said.

The Saenuri Party was crushed in the metropolitan regions in the April 11 general elections although it beat the main opposition Democratic United Party overall by winning 152 seats in the 300-member assembly.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)