Lee Jae-myung takes control of DP

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Lee Jae-myung takes control of DP

Democratic Party (DP) chairmanship candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung, fourth to the left, celebrates at a national convention at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in southern Seoul Sunday after winning the party leadership. From left: Jang Kyung-tae, Park Chan-dae, Ko Min-jung, Lee Jae-myung, Jung Chung-rae and Seo Young-kyo. [NEWS1]

Democratic Party (DP) chairmanship candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung, fourth to the left, celebrates at a national convention at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in southern Seoul Sunday after winning the party leadership. From left: Jang Kyung-tae, Park Chan-dae, Ko Min-jung, Lee Jae-myung, Jung Chung-rae and Seo Young-kyo. [NEWS1]

 
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the former Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate, was voted party chairman Sunday.
 
The DP also chose the five members of its supreme council in a national convention held at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in southern Seoul Sunday.
 
Lee won a score of 77.77 percent, which combined votes of party members and the results of opinion surveys. Rep. Park Yong-jin won a score of 22.23 percent.
 
The DP has been without a chair since March. The previous leadership resigned en masse following Lee's narrow defeat by Yoon Suk-yeol in March's presidential vote, and shifted to interim leadership mode under an emergency steering committee.
 
Lee, who won a parliamentary seat representing Incheon's Gyeyang-B district in a June by-election, was seen as an overwhelming front-runner in the leadership contest. Party observers and insiders alike used a shortened Korean phrase meaning “Lee Jae-myung is going to be the chairman anyway,” "Eo Dae Myung," to refer to the contest.
 
According to new rules for the leadership contest, dues-paying members’ votes accounted for 40 percent of the candidates' final scores, with party delegates' votes accounting for 30, DP general members' votes for 5 percent, and opinion polls for 25 percent.
 
The new rules gave 15 percent greater weight to public opinion polls than before. The changes were part of a party effort to get more in tune with public opinion following Lee’s loss in March and the party’s dismal showing in June local elections, in which it won only five out of 17 metropolitan mayoral and provincial governor posts.
 
The party's Supreme Council seats were also filled with pro-Lee lawmakers.
 
Three-term lawmaker Jung Chung-rae ranked first in the votes for supreme council, followed by Rep. Ko Min-jung, Park Chan-dae, Seo Young-kyo and Jang Kyung-tae. Except for Ko, all the lawmakers are close to Lee.
 
As leader, Lee will be in charge of nominations for the 24th general elections to take place in 2024.
 
Lee won 75.61 percent of the dues-paying members’ votes Saturday in Seoul and 80.21 percent of that vote in the neighboring province of Gyeonggi. 
 
Lee is reportedly planning to pay a courtesy call on former President Moon Jae-in on the first day of his term as the new party leader.
 
“Once elected as party leader, Lee is considering visiting Pyeongsan Village in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang on Monday to pay a courtesy call on the former President Moon,” a key official with Lee was quoted as saying in a Yonhap report.
 
“The DP is believed to have coordinated the schedule with Moon,” the official said.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
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