Next impeachment vote may pass, Reform Party floor leader says

The second parliamentary vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, scheduled to take place Saturday, will likely pass, a minor party’s floor leader predicted.

Rep. Cheon Ha-ram of the minor conservative Reform Party, made this prediction in a local radio interview Monday afternoon, saying that more than eight lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party will vote in favor of Yoon’s removal from office.

The first vote on Yoon’s impeachment failed amid a boycott of PPP lawmakers. Six opposition parties, including the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, control a combined 192 votes, eight shy of the required 200-vote quorum. The opposition coalition is set to reintroduce the impeachment bill, with the intention of holding the vote on Saturday.

In a phone interview with MBC radio, Rep. Cheon suggested that ruling party members who aligned with the party’s stance against Yoon’s immediate impeachment may be shifting their stance.

“There has been significant public criticism toward lawmakers who abstained from the first impeachment vote on Saturday,” Rep. Cheon said. “Many ruling lawmakers who did not enter the main chamber at that time now regret not at least casting their votes.”

During the first impeachment vote on Dec. 7, only three lawmakers from the PPP cast their ballot in the impeachment vote. The impeachment motion was rendered moot, as it fell five votes short of the quorum, with only 195 cast.

The Reform Party was founded under the leadership of Lee Jun-seok, a former leader of the People Power Party, and is primarily driven by members from the conservative faction aligned with him.