People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at the inaugural meeting of the Task Force on Evaluation Innovation for Elected Officials, held at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Newsis]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at the inaugural meeting of the Task Force on Evaluation Innovation for Elected Officials, held at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Newsis]

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said Tuesday that proposals to exclude the party leader from the candidate nomination process amount to "a fundamentally wrong idea that completely ignores party members, who are the core of the party."

Jang made the remarks at the inaugural meeting of the Task Force on Evaluation Innovation for Elected Officials, held at the National Assembly on Tuesday. "Party members' views must be meaningfully incorporated into the evaluation of public officials in some form," he said. "That is the path toward a member-centered party, and a member-centered party is the first step toward becoming a party of the people."

He also stressed that the National Assembly must serve as the front line of political battles. "As long as party politics exists, the Assembly should be the frontline of the fight, and lawmakers are naturally its finest soldiers," Jang said. "A lawmaker nominated by a party should, by nature, fight against the government and the ruling party in line with the party's direction. We must nominate people who will fight hard and fight right."

Addressing the factional tensions gripping the party, Jang said its energy "only circulates as voices within our own ranks" and "cannot even reach beyond party headquarters" when directed at the government and ruling party. "We must nominate people who pour their expertise and ability into the party and its members — not those consumed by factional politics or internal squabbles," he said.

Jang also took aim at calls from floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik and others within the party to transform the PPP into a "party of the people" more attuned to general public opinion than to hardcore members. "Nominations are the most important decision-making process within a party," he said. "The idea of nominating candidates by ignoring members' wishes — by someone the members did not elect — is completely at odds with the basic principles of party politics."

He added that "excluding party members from all decision-making and allowing only Assembly lawmakers to monopolize those decisions also runs counter to the fundamental direction of party politics."

On calls by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Assembly member Yun Sang-hyun and others to abolish the party leader position in favor of an Assembly-centered structure, Jang said that if the party were to go that route, "at least 50 percent of the floor leader election should reflect party members' wishes." "If that condition is met, I can reconsider the direction of an Assembly-centered party," he added.

The PPP earlier launched the task force to assess the capabilities of incumbent lawmakers and the party's metropolitan and provincial governors, drawing on their party duties, legislative activities, contributions, and reviews by the party leader and floor leader.

The task force plans to hold its second meeting next week to discuss specific evaluation criteria and other agenda items.


husn7@heraldcorp.com