Park Hong-keun elected as new DP floor leader

Politics

Published: 24 Mar. 2022, 19:05

Park Hong-keun elected as new DP floor leader

Three-time Democratic Party lawmaker Park Hong-keun shakes hands with colleagues after being elected as the party's new floor leader at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday afternoon. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) elected three-time lawmaker Park Hong-keun as its new floor leader on Thursday afternoon as part of a shake-up at the top of the party following its defeat in the 20th presidential election.

The party convened a general meeting of its 172 lawmakers in the parliamentary budget committee’s meeting room at the National Assembly to pick its new floor leader after the DP’s leadership resigned en masse the day after the March 9 election, when it was confirmed DP presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung narrowly lost out to now-president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol from the rival conservative People Power Party (PPP).

The floor leadership position was contested by Park and two other three-time lawmakers, Park Kwang-on and Lee Won-wook, as well as first-time lawmaker Choi Kang-wook.

According to the DP’s own regulations, a lawmaker who receives support from more than two-thirds of the 172 lawmakers in the first round of voting is elected the new floor leader.

In the absence of a clear two-thirds majority for a candidate, the party holds a second round of voting, limiting the field to candidates who secured more than 10 percent of lawmakers’ votes in the first round.

For this leadership contest, the DP introduced what it called a “conclave-style” election, referring to the opaque voting process by which popes are selected, but the candidates’ share or number of votes is not revealed.

Park Hong-keun, a close acquaintance of Lee Jae-myung, made it to the final stage of voting along with Park Kwang-on, who is is part of the faction within the DP that favors former party leader and prime minister Lee Nak-yon.

Both Lees ran in the party’s presidential primary in October, with Lee Nak-yon conceding to Lee Jae-myung only four days after the results were announced.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]