2024-07-22 22:42:08
The voter turnout for the July 23rd National Convention to elect the next leadership of the People Power Party is about 7 percentage points lower than the previous convention. There is an interpretation that party members who were fed up with various suspicions and slander during the convention race ultimately did not vote.
The camps have different opinions on the pros and cons of the low voter turnout. The camp of candidate Han Dong-hoon, the party leader, said, “There is no problem in winning a majority of votes in the first round,” while the camps of candidates Won Hee-ryong and Na Kyung-won assessed that, “Supporters from candidate Han’s side have left.”
According to the People Power Party Election Commission on the 22nd, as of 12 PM on the last day of voting, 395,992 out of 841,614 people voted, recording a voter turnout of 47.05%. This is 6.95%p lower than the 54% voter turnout at 1 PM on the last day of voting for the March 8th National Convention last year.
The ARS vote will continue until that day, but the voter turnout is expected to be less than 50%. The final voter turnout at the March 8th National Convention, which elected Rep. Kim Ki-hyun as party leader last year, was 55.1%.
Regarding the low voter turnout, the Na and Won camps expressed confidence, saying, “Candidate Han’s supporters have turned away.”
Their logic is that the ‘organizational votes’, in which the party committee chairs inside and outside the National Assembly gather votes through each party organization, always show up at the polls. In other words, the low voter turnout means that supporters of one candidate did not vote, and the argument is that the influence of the organizational votes mobilized by the pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Seok faction) has grown in this election.
In particular, they believe that the fact that one candidate made a revelation about the ‘request to drop the fast-track indictment’ at the end of a televised debate had an impact on the loss of supporters for one candidate. The analysis is that the supporters who were disappointed in one candidate ultimately did not vote for him, as there was a consensus among party members that the party had resisted the Moon Jae-in government’s suppression of the opposition party in the 2019 fast-track incident and was indicted en masse.
Both Na’s and Won’s camps predicted that the chances of going to the final round have increased. A Na official said, “It seems that there are many defectors who questioned the verification of Candidate Han. The chances of going to the final round have increased.” A Won official also said, “It seems that those who supported Candidate Han only because of her image when she was Minister of Justice did not vote because they saw that her appearance did not match our party’s identity.”
On the other hand, one candidate’s camp, which had initially aimed for a 65% voter turnout, is trying not to attach much significance to the low voter turnout. A source from one candidate’s camp told News 1, “Last year’s convention had a considerably high voter turnout, which was unusual, but the first convention where former leader Lee Jun-seok was elected also had a voter turnout of only 45%,” adding, “It won’t have enough of an impact to prevent one candidate from winning a majority of the votes in the first round.”
One candidate’s camp argued that the lower voter turnout compared to the previous convention actually proves the power of the weakened organizational chart. Last year’s convention was an election to elect a party leader who would have the right to nominate candidates ahead of the general election, so the organizational election was fierce, and as a result, many pro-Yoon organizational charts were mobilized, leading to a high voter turnout. The argument is that the lower voter turnout this time is the result of many of those pro-Yoon organizational charts being eliminated.
In fact, unlike the 2nd National Convention in 2021, which selected then-presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol before the presidential election, and the 3rd National Convention last year, which selected the representative who would have the right to nominate candidates before the general election, the party leader elected at this national convention does not have much authority. This party leader will have the right to nominate candidates ahead of the 2026 local elections, but both presidential candidates Han and Won must step down from their positions in September next year to run for president, so they effectively do not have the right to nominate candidates. There is criticism that there was no incentive for party committee chairs inside and outside the National Assembly to concentrate their organizational votes on a specific candidate.
A source from a candidate’s camp said, “Last year, former representative Kim Ki-hyun put his life on the line on whether or not the voter turnout would exceed 50%, and since he would have the right to nominate candidates if he became the party leader, there was fierce organizational competition over what percentage of votes each party association had.” He added, “This time, there was no such driving force for voting, which is why the voter turnout is not as high as last year.”
However, all three candidate camps unanimously agreed that the low voter turnout was due to “negative campaigning.” The criticism is that party members did not vote as they watched the convention, which was expected to be a hit with potential presidential candidates competing, turn into a “self-destruct convention” marred by various suspicions and slander against each other.
Meanwhile, ARS voting for those who did not participate in mobile voting will be held until 6 PM today. The results of the vote, which combines 80% of party member votes and 20% of public opinion polls, will be announced at the party convention on the 23rd.
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-07-22 22:42:08