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Stark challenges for the re-elected DP leader

Published: 18 Aug. 2024, 20:15

In the Democratic Party’s national convention on Sunday, Lee Jae-myung was reelected as the party leader. His overwhelming victory with more than 80 percent of the votes is unprecedented, not to mention his reelection as the opposition chief. In second place was Rep. Kim Min-seok, who was enthusiastically supported by Lee, and coming in third in Seoul was Rep. Jeon Hyun-hee, who denounced President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife as “murderers” of a senior government official. But candidates for Supreme Council seats suffered after attacking Lee and his loyalists in the DP.

The revision of the DP’s constitution to reflect Lee’s position on volatile issues provoked controversy over his privatization of the majority party. The DP inserted an article on “basic society” — which is reminiscent of Lee’s insistence on “basic income” — into the constitution and even allowed the party to punish any complaints about Lee’s nominations for future elections.

But Lee cannot afford to enjoy his landslide victory. The voter turnout among party members with voting rights was only 26.47 percent as of 5 p.m. Sunday, compared to 37.09 percent in the previous convention two years ago. Surprisingly, the online voter turnout in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, the home turf of Korean conservatism, was the highest at 52.24 percent while the turnout in South and North Jeolla — the home ground for the DP — was the lowest at less than 30 percent. That clearly suggests traditional DP members’ antipathy toward Lee’s domination of the party.

The DP submitted nine special motions to investigate government officials and seven motions to impeach whomever the party dislikes. The DP’s extreme battle against the conservative government helped lower the party’s approval rating below the governing party’s. The DP couldn’t take advantage of the government’s repeated policy fumbles. The party being engrossed in blocking whatever the government does — and the abuse of special motions to tame the government — will backfire in the 2027 presidential election.

We hope the DP leader will reignite his desire to improve people’s livelihoods and cooperate with the governing party to find effective ways to help revitalize the economy. Nothing drew people’s attention except for the DP’s plan to “reconsider” its earlier opposition to scrapping the capital gains tax. We wonder what relations are really there between Lee’s crusade to improve people’s livelihoods and frequent hearings in the legislature to disgrace government officials.

Lee faces judicial risks from his tainted past. In the first trials in October, the court will deliver rulings on his alleged subordination of perjury and violation of the Public Official Election Act. Lee has been criticized for using the majority party as a shield to defend himself from his own judicial risks. Many people suspect that he ran for the party chairmanship again for that purpose. Lee must resolve his own judicial risks without help from the party. That’s the only way for the DP to win the next local and presidential elections.