The People Power Party's Special Committee for Organizational Strengthening has decided to halt the selection process for the Gangneung city organizational chair and instead link it to the upcoming by-election scheduled for April next year.
During a meeting held on September 17 at the party's headquarters in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, the committee reached this decision. Jeong Hee-yong, the committee chair, explained after the meeting, "Considering that a by-election is planned for April in Gangneung, we determined that it would be more efficient to connect the selection of the organizational chair with the by-election nomination process rather than appoint a separate chair."
The committee plans to urge the party leadership to expedite the nomination process for Gangneung. This area became vacant after former lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong received a two-year prison sentence for accepting illegal political funds of 100 million won from the Unification Church, resulting in the loss of his seat.
The selection process for the chairs of the remaining 35 local chapters, excluding Gangneung, will proceed as scheduled. The committee will begin interviewing applicants from today to comprehensively assess their competitiveness.
Jeong added, "In regions where a single recommendation is possible based on the interview results, we will propose candidates to the Supreme Council, while in other areas, we plan to select the organizational chairs through voting by responsible party members in those regions."
Meanwhile, the People Power Party decided on August 31 during a Supreme Council meeting to gradually implement a direct election system for party council chairs. Consequently, the nomination process for organizational chairs across the country has been underway since September 1 for the vacant local chapters.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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