Reinventing the governing party

The governing People Power Party (PPP) is struggling to recover from its crushing defeat against the majority Democratic Party (DP) in the April 10 parliamentary elections. The PPP held an emergency meeting on Monday between acting party leader Yun Jae-ok and senior lawmakers serving more than four terms, and will hold a general meeting on Tuesday for its newly elected legislators. Rep. Yun repeatedly emphasized the importance of the conservative party “being born again” after reflecting on its past.

However, PPP members are still engrossed in battling over the new leadership of the party without trying to find the reason for its landslide defeat. After PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon resigned Thursday to take responsibility for the humiliating loss, some party members called for the establishment of another emergency committee, while others insisted on first staging a national convention to elect a new leader. PPP members agreed to set up an emergency committee first and hold a national convention later. But many still disagree over the timing and other tricky issues.

The dispute basically stems from the fight for power between lawmakers close to President Yoon Suk Yeol and those who aren’t. But what matters most now is not who should become the next leader of the party. To be frank, a majority of voters are not interested in who will be the next leader of the PPP. They want to see a dramatic transformation of the party after putting behind its image of no communication and incompetence.

If it is responsible, the PPP must first find effective ways to recover public trust. Instead of bringing lawmakers-elect concentrated on South and North Gyeongsang and Gangnam districts in southern Seoul, the party must hold a general meeting of its candidates who lost in the election and listen to what they say about public sentiment. If the two factions only fight over whom to recommend for the post of their party leader, it goes against the tide. Lawmaker-elect Kim Jae-sup, who won a seat representing a Seoul district hostile to the PPP, compared the party’s rush to a national convention to “covering trash with a blanket.” He demanded self-reflection from party members.

Even though the defeat owes much to Yoon, the PPP is not free from responsibility for playing its role as a rubber stamp for the president without trying to change the vertical relationship with him. The PPP also turned a deaf ear to communicating with the opposition. In the meantime, the PPP’s stature shrank pitifully — mostly due to a failure to innovate itself. If the conservative party fails to reinvent itself colossally, its future is not bright.