(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Jeong-hyeon and Jo Daun = The leadership of the People Power Party's Jang Dong-hyuk regime attempted to introduce a plan on the 20th to have all party council chairs, including active members, resign ahead of the expiration of their terms at the end of this month and then re-elect them through a vote of party members, but the decision was put on hold for now.
In a situation where fierce debate broke out in the morning Supreme Council meeting and some public opposition erupted at the ensuing general meeting of lawmakers, the Supreme Council reconvened in the afternoon to collect additional opinions from lawmakers, but they took a step back.
However, there is still weight in the speculation that the agenda will eventually be decided at the highest level next week.
Chief Spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon met with reporters after the highest meeting held from 6 p.m. on this day and said, "The decision on the election of the regular party council chairman, which was discussed, has been put on hold." He added, "Once the results of the general meeting are shared with the highest level, the highest members will deliberate and continue the discussion to the next highest level."
He added, “It has not been decided whether it will be decided at the next highest level or discussed further.”
Regarding the reason for withholding the decision at the highest level, Chief Spokesperson Choi explained, "The decision of the general meeting of members does not bind the highest level (decision), but I believe that the contents of the general meeting will be shared with the highest level and serve as a reference for deliberation by the highest level members."
He added, “No one had a disagreement with the decision to postpone the decision and discuss it until the next highest level.”
Initially, the leadership planned to decide on the agenda at the highest level that day, but a heated debate took place for over an hour at the highest level privately in the morning.
Representative Jang and the party faction were of the position that a method of voting by party members in the form of a virtual primary should be introduced for all 254 party council chairpersons. It was reported that on this day, a plan was made to decide on the agenda after confirming the pros and cons and abstentions of each supreme committee member.
However, the resolution was postponed as floor leader Jeong Jeong-sik and some non-party top members raised concerns that 'buying all the party cooperatives at once, turning them into party cooperatives and re-electing them through party member votes is unprecedented and may cause procedural problems.'
In addition, at the closed general meeting held after the Supreme Council, some lawmakers pointed out that 'the re-election of the chairman of the party council is not something that can be decided arbitrarily at the highest level, but rather requires the collection of opinions at the general meeting.' As a result, no resolution was reached at the highest meeting held again in the afternoon.
However, since Representative Jang and other top members of the party faction actually reached a consensus that such a plan should be introduced, there are speculations that the agenda will eventually be passed at the highest meeting held next week.
This is because, among the top members with voting rights who passed through two rounds of closed-door top-level meetings, the consensus was that they were generally in favor of this plan, except for Floor Leader Jeong Jeong-sik and Supreme Youth Council member Woo Jae-jun.
A party official told Yonhap News, "The decision was put on hold within the leadership, including CEO Jang, with the intention of saying, 'In fact, the conclusion has been decided, so we just have to watch the results of the general meeting of lawmakers and reach a conclusion at the next highest level.'" He added, "It will not take long to reach a conclusion because the term ends at the end of this month."
