The People Power Party at a crossroads

The tumultuous national convention of the People Power Party (PPP) ended with former interim leader Han Dong-hoon’s victory. The governing party was supposed to reshape it by first reflecting on its crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections and finding effective ways to colossally innovate the conservative party. But the overheated race for the new leadership of the lethargic party disappointed not only party members but also the general public.

The new PPP leader faces a bumpy road ahead. But first, he must unite the conservative party and put the governing party’s uneasy relations with the presidential office back on track as soon as possible.

More fundamentally, Han must reestablish the identity of the conservative party after it has been stigmatized as the “incompetent Old Guard” for a while. Conservative values can flourish when they seek incremental changes based on the conservative footing. The PPP must learn from its British counterpart’s endless self-questioning “What Went Wrong?” Without deep soul searching, the PPP cannot be reborn as a true conservative party.

The same can apply to its policies. The PPP must radically ease or remove all types of stifling regulations on the private sector. The new PPP leader must launch a crusade to deregulate the chip and financial industries before promising to achieve the goal of a $40,000 per capita income.

As he proclaimed in his acceptance speech Tuesday, Han must broaden the base for support for the party. In the April legislative election, 3.2 million voters who supported Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential election turned their backs on the PPP. Without bringing them back, the conservative party cannot win the next presidential election in 2027.

The PPP must also show tangible progress on the tax and welfare issues. If the party is swayed by those irresponsible far-right YouTubers, it has no future. Han must bolster the strength of young members of the party on a national level. Otherwise, Korean conservativism cannot last. The party must overcome such vulnerabilities if it really wants to depart from its image as a political party based on the Yeongnam region.

The new PPP leader, the conservative party and the values of conservatism are at a crossroads.