Alarm bells ring in PPP as election woes in Seoul area worsen

Politics

Published: 15 Apr. 2024, 18:26 Updated: 15 Apr. 2024, 20:17

Alarm bells ring in PPP as election woes in Seoul area worsen

Rep. Lee Man-hee waits to close down the election campaign situation room on the night of the 22nd general election on April 10, 2024. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The conservative People Power Party (PPP) has been losing more parliamentary seats representing the Seoul metropolitan area with each general election, igniting criticism that it has become a regional party. The PPP's parliamentary seats from the metropolitan area — comprised of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon — shrank from 35 in 2016 to 19 with the most recent general election.

Of the 90 PPP lawmakers directly elected in the 22nd general election held last week, 65.5 percent are from the Yeongnam region, the southeastern part of the country comprised of Busan, Daegu, Ulsan and the Gyeongsang provinces. This starkly contrasts with the Democratic Party (DP), where 63.4 percent of elected seats were in the metropolitan area.

In 2016, the PPP, then called the Saenuri Party, became the second party in the National Assembly by winning 35 seats out of 122 in the metropolitan area in the 20th general election.

Four years later, it secured only 16 seats in the 21st general election as the main opposition party to the Moon Jae-in administration, leading to a decline in party power. On the other hand, the DP secured 82 seats in the metropolitan area in 2016, 103 in 2020 and 102 in the most recent general election.

For the 22nd general election held this year, the PPP, as the ruling party, managed to get only 19 seats, a slight increase from the last election but still a significantly shrunken number. The concentration of PPP seats in the Yeongnam region has deepened, with two-thirds of the 90 PPP seats in the area.

Concern is growing within the PPP that the party may have become merely a regional force. Party candidates who lost in the metropolitan area self-deprecatingly say the PPP has "given up on the metropolitan area.”

After the party suffered a crushing defeat in the Gangseo District by-election in Seoul on Oct. 11 last year, concern within the PPP rose as the by-election was seen as a barometer of public sentiment six months before the general election. However, despite calls for complete reform within the party, then-PPP leader Kim Gi-hyeon’s leadership limited itself to replacing a handful of party officials.

Last December, alarms rang when the party’s internal polling showed that the party was ahead in only six of 49 constituencies in Seoul. Certain party members, such as Rep. Choi Jae-hyung, called out the party leadership as having “no sense of urgency,” but the party leadership did not actively change.

This may be because most of the PPP’s leadership is from the Yeongnam region. Former leader Kim Gi-hyeon, floor leader Yun Jae-ok and former policy committee chairman Park Dae-chul are from Yeongnam. Kim Seok-ki and Kang Dae-sik, former PPP council members, and former secretary Lee Man-hee also represent constituencies in Yeongnam. Rep. Kim Hyeong-dong, who served as chief of staff to former PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon from December last year, is also from Yeongnam.

“Races in the Yeongnam region and the metropolitan region are on completely different levels since in the former, winning is almost guaranteed, while in the latter, races are very close,” said a PPP candidate who lost in this year’s general election. “How could we win in Seoul when people who don’t know about elections in the metropolitan area came up with election strategies?”

Another failed PPP candidate complained, “The PPP leadership in the Yeongnam region is buried in TK sentiment and insensitive to sentiment in the metropolitan area, moderates or voters in their 20s or 30s.”

TK refers to the conservative strongholds of Daegu and North Gyeongsang.

Even after former PPP leader Kim Gi-hyeon stepped down and former interim chief Han Dong-hoon took the party leadership in December last year, the movement to reform the party was weak.

The party continued to nominate former and current members of the National Assembly as candidates without naming new faces or formulating new policies to win over the public in the metropolitan area.

“When the DP brought up the green onion controversy, no one in the election committee responded properly,” a PPP official who participated in the party’s election committee said. “Public sentiment in the metropolitan area changed significantly in the meantime. The party, led by Han with little experience, stood still as the DP played their cards right before our eyes.”

Some argue that it was also a problem that many Yoon Suk Yeol government veterans wanted to run in Yeongnam or Seoul's Gangnam.

This contrasts with how most of the DP’s leadership has established itself in the metropolitan area. Party leader Lee Jae-myung, floor leader Hong Ihk-pyo and former policy committee chairman Kim Min-seok have constituencies in the metropolitan area.

Rep. Jung Chung-rae, Rep. Go Min-jeong, Rep. Park Chan-dae, Rep. Seo Young-kyo and Rep. Jang Kyung-tae represent metropolitan-area constituencies.

“Because winning in the metropolitan area is related to the DP's very survival, the party paid close attention to moderate voters and effectively used a negative strategy tailored to them,” said a PPP official.

According to analysis, the conservative PPP’s almost complete defeats in the metropolitan area may continue. With so many seats lost to the DP, the party will inevitably be pushed out in terms of organization and personnel.

Defeatism within the PPP — a belief that the party can't win in the metropolitan area — will also likely grow.

“What we fear most is our isolation in the Yeongnam region becoming entrenched,” said Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the PPP. “Without groundbreaking reform, it may be difficult to reverse this situation.”

“It is safe to say that the PPP has returned to the days of the Liberty Korea Party, when the party was much weaker,” said political critic Park Sung-min. “If the party continues to be formed around a narrow view centering on Yeongnam as it is now, reconstruction in the future will be more difficult.”

BY KIM HYO-SEONG, LEE CHANG-HOON, PARK KUN, JANG SEO-YUN, LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]