PPP Nomination Chaos Raises Questions About Local Election Strategy

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is embroiled in severe internal conflict over candidate nominations for the June 3 local elections. Major fractures have emerged immediately over the nomination for Daegu mayor—a traditional PPP stronghold.

Lee Jung-hyun, chairman of the Nomination Management Committee, has reportedly taken the position within the party that incumbent senior lawmakers should be excluded from the Daegu mayoral nomination. Such a move could tilt the primary toward Lee Jin-sook, former chairwoman of the Korea Communications Commission, who has backing from the "Yoon Again" faction.

In the Chungbuk gubernatorial primary, incumbent Governor Kim Young-hwan received a cut-off decision on the 16th, excluding him from the race. This significantly eases the competitive burden for other preliminary candidates, including Yoon Gap-geun, former chief prosecutor of the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office who served as former President Yoon Suk-yeol's defense attorney.

When forming the nomination committee last month, Chairman Lee emphasized that "factional and regional considerations played no role in personnel decisions—only whether candidates could participate in reform-minded nominations." He actively championed generational, era-defining, and political change. However, under the current structure, major regional primaries are likely to effectively result in "Yoon Again nominations."

Fortunately, Chairman Lee reversed his "incumbent exclusion" policy for the Busan mayoral primary after facing intraparty backlash, withdrawing the cut-off of Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun. Otherwise, the race would have tilted toward a solo contest for Rep. Joo Jin-woo, a core pro-Yoon figure.

The once-murky PPP Seoul mayoral primary gained a thread of hope for reversal with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's dramatic entry. Mayor Oh, who had withheld his nomination application while demanding formation of a reform election strategy committee, registered as a candidate on the 17th, declaring "party before self." He criticized the party leadership, including Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk, for failing to sever ties with far-right YouTubers and steering the party in the wrong direction.

The PPP should take the Saenuri Party's (PPP's predecessor) crushing defeat in the 2016 general election as a cautionary tale. At that time, party leadership triggered a nomination crisis amid controversy over identifying "true Park Geun-hye loyalists," inviting defection from the conservative base and moderates alike.

If the current PPP leadership excludes specific factions under the guise of generational change, winning public support will prove difficult. The party must reflect on the recent general assembly resolution declaring a "break from Yoon" and implement fair and transparent nominations.