The race for the new leadership of the conservative main opposition People Power Party is shaping up to be a generational contest, the outcome of which could drastically change the domestic political landscape.
A dozen party members have announced or are considering declaring their bids for the post of chairman, with the deadline for candidacy registration set for Saturday. The party plans to hold a convention early next month to elect its leader and other members of its Supreme Council.
The country has rarely seen a political novice challenging for the leadership of a main party, particularly a conservative one dominated by a seniority-based culture.
In a departure from this passive trend, two first-term lawmakers of the People Power Party last week made public their decision to run for the party’s chairman. Another first-term legislator is expected to join the leadership race. The three lawmakers -- Reps. Kim Woong, Kim Eun-hye and Yoon Hee-sook -- were born in the 1970s.
In addition to them, Lee Jun-seok, 36, former member of the party’s Supreme Council, has also expressed his intent to run in the leadership contest.
Others in the field are eight incumbent and former seasoned lawmakers in their late 50s or 60s, including Rep. Joo Ho-young, a five-term legislator who served as floor leader of the main opposition party.
What prompted relatively young first-term lawmakers to challenge for the top party post was the party’s win in last month’s mayoral by-elections in the nation’s two largest cities -- Seoul and Busan.
A majority of voters in their 20s and 30s, who had been considered as a main support base for liberal and progressive parties, cast ballots for candidates from the conservative opposition party. The shift in their support was a key reason for the People Power Party’s first electoral win against the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea in four years.
But it was seen as a reflection of young voters’ disappointment with policy failures of President Moon Jae-in’s government over the years since its launch in May 2017 -- which exacerbated their livelihoods in particular -- rather than their anticipation that the opposition party could do better.
Calls have been growing for younger lawmakers to take the lead in steering the opposition party in the direction of getting more in touch with younger voters.
Announcing her bid for the leadership post, Rep. Kim Eun-hye stressed the need for generational change, saying the party should depart from its outmoded practice and take an uncharted path.
Each of the young challengers has a weaker support base within the party than their experienced rivals. To overcome this handicap, the first-term lawmakers and former Supreme Council member Lee are expected to unify their candidacies in the final stage of the election race.
There are concerns that their challenge might end up being a storm in a teacup unless they put forward concrete visions beyond mere slogans for generational change. They need to suggest a coherent set of measures to shore up people’s livelihoods, reinvigorate the economy and ease the fallout from the prolonged pandemic crisis.
Certainly experience is not what matters most. But younger challengers for the leadership are required to convince party members and the public that they have the ability to lead the party to a win in the next presidential election slated for March.
Joo and other senior lawmakers argue that they are in a better position to draw in or form partnership with potential conservative or center-right presidential runners outside the party, including former Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl.
The choice of a young leader could also bring changes to politics as a whole beyond the People Power Party.
The leadership reshuffle in the ruling and main opposition parties have so far fallen short of public expectations.
Rep. Song Young-gil, a five-term lawmaker, was elected chairman of the ruling party early this month following the selection of Rep. Yun Ho-jung, a four-term legislator, as its new floor leader last month. The opposition party elected Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, a four-term lawmaker, as its new floor leader in late April.
In the eyes of many people, they are seen as figures from the outmoded political establishment, who can hardly be expected to bring substantial changes to domestic politics gripped by protracted partisan strife and increasing populism.
