How surreal can a national convention get?

The national convention of the Democratic Party (DP) to elect its new leadership is going in a strange direction. Party members give overwhelming support to former DP leader Lee Jae-myung, who is rebidding for the chairmanship of the majority party. In the four regional races, votes for Lee have exceeded 90 percent. Kim Doo-kwan, a former South Gyeongsang governor, joined the race to oppose the election of “an emperor-like party head,” but his performance so far has been utterly poor.

The race to elect members of the Supreme Council also turned into a contest for showing loyalty to Lee. That was anticipated when candidates for the top council were all pro-Lee lawmakers. They are engrossed in showing off their close ties with Lee, not their visions for the party.

We are dumbfounded at their concerted praises of Lee — ranging from “Let the mouth of Lee join the council” to “Let me advance our party in the Yeongnam region together with Lee.” Those politicians are just busy bragging about their connections with their former boss. We wonder why the DP is holding a national convention in such a weird manner. It would be even better if the party just recommends Lee as its new leader without holding elections and allows him to appoint Supreme Council members, too.

The DP raised the rate of reflecting the votes from party members with voting rights to 56 percent from the current 40 percent. DP members with voting rights are enthusiastic supporters of Lee. As a result, the gap between DP members and the general public only widens. For instance, former DP Rep. Chung Bong-ju — who took first place among eight candidates for the council members over the weekend — had lost his nomination in the April 10 parliamentary elections because of his over-the-top remarks.

Appearing on a YouTube channel in 2017, he irked the public by derisively proposing “prizes for soldiers who stepped on landmines” stealthily laid by North Korean soldiers on the border. After his comment stirred up controversy, he said he apologized to the soldiers on the spot. But after it turned out to be a lie, the DP cancelled his nomination for a legislative seat representing a district in northern Seoul. In the process, his criminal record of domestic violence surfaced.

In a strange development, such a person is the frontrunner in the race for the Supreme Council. How many people could understand what’s happening in the DP now. If Chung is elected as a member of the council, would he be granted immunity from his tainted past? The ongoing national convention of the governing People Power Party is also being criticized for excessive accusations among candidates. But the DP is no different.