2024-01-15 18:39:00
Han Dong-hoon, Chairman of the People Power Party’s Emergency Response Committee, is making remarks at the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the morning of the 15th./Reporter Deok-hoon Lee
On the 15th, People Power Party Emergency Committee Chairman Han Dong-hoon said, “If re-election or by-elections are held due to the fault of the People Power Party, I will not nominate a candidate.” This is Chairman Han’s third political reform pledge, following his pledge to give up his privilege of not being arrested by members of the National Assembly and to return tax money when a prison sentence or higher is confirmed.
At the emergency response committee meeting that day, Chairman Han said, “Our party is a conservative party that seeks practical and rational ways to improve the lives of citizens, but it is much more reformative and more progressive than the current Democratic Party.” The People Power Party decided not to run a candidate in one of the two Daegu Jung-gu basic assembly constituencies where by-elections were scheduled along with the general election on the 8th due to problems with People Power Party members.
However, Chairman Han did not mention the by-election for the head of Gangseo-gu, Seoul in October last year. At that time, the election was held after Kim Tae-woo, former mayor of Gangseo-gu, a member of the People Power Party, was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation in May last year. The People Power Party’s rules stipulate that if a by-election occurs due to the fault of an elected official of the party, it may not nominate a candidate. However, the party nominated former Commissioner Kim, who received a special pardon and lottery for Liberation Day, as its candidate, but suffered a crushing defeat. A party official said, “This happened during the previous leadership, but Chairman Han could have shown more sincerity if he had apologized first for the Gangseo-gu mayor by-election issue.”
Previously, the Democratic Party also submitted a candidate for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections held the following year after sexual misconduct cases among the party’s mayors emerged in 2020. In the Democratic Party’s constitution, there was a clause that stated, ‘No candidate can be nominated in a re-election or by-election held due to reasons attributable to the party’s elected officials,’ but the Democratic Party even went so far as to amend the party constitution to nominate a candidate. Former Democratic Party leader Nak-yeon Lee, who was the leader of the Democratic Party at the time, said at a press conference on his withdrawal from the Democratic Party on the 11th, “It was a huge mistake I made while working as the representative of the Democratic Party.”
Political consultant Park Seong-min said, “The political parties’ pledges that they will not run candidates if re-elections or by-elections are held due to the party’s fault, and their apologies for failing to keep this promise, are nothing but clichés.” He said, “During the last Gangseo-gu mayor and Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, political parties that broke their principles and promises were defeated,” and added, “Still, political parties seem highly likely to break their promises if their leadership changes or the political situation changes.”
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