The People Power Party's Nomination Management Committee on the 16th abruptly cut off the incumbent Chungbuk governor from nomination, firing the starting gun on "reform nominations" for the June 3 local elections. As the committee began its "incumbent purge" starting with Chungbuk, preliminary candidates publicly rebelled, intensifying intraparty conflict over nominations.
The party's nomination committee held a briefing at the central party headquarters in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, announcing that current Chungbuk Governor Kim Young-hwan would be excluded from nomination for the June 3 local elections and that additional applications would be accepted. Governor Kim became the first metropolitan governor to be cut off among People Power Party affiliates.
Nomination Committee Chairman Lee Jung-hyun explained the background: "This decision is not about evaluating one person but about political change. We determined that especially in regions like Chungbuk that serve as central pillars of Korea, new leaders who can embody the spirit of a new era and forcefully implement demands for generational and era change must boldly emerge."
This cutoff decision came just one day after Chairman Lee returned from resignation, having received a promise of full nomination authority from People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk.
Chairman Lee, who has maintained a "new face" reform nomination policy, also hinted at additional cutoffs. "The decisions will not end with just Chungbuk," he announced.
The need for "incumbent replacement" was also raised for the Busan mayoral nomination. Currently, incumbent Mayor Park Hyung-jun seeking a third term and first-term lawmaker Joo Jin-woo have entered the race. During the day's committee meeting, disagreements arose among committee members over cutting off Mayor Park. Chairman Lee and some committee members proposed cutting off Mayor Park and giving Representative Joo a single-candidate nomination. However, Secretary General Jeong Hee-yong and Representatives Kwak Gyu-taek and Seo Ji-young opposed on grounds of "procedural legitimacy," derailing the meeting.
Preliminary candidates uniformly rebelled against the committee's "reform nomination" stance, creating friction. Governor Kim stated, "I absolutely cannot accept the nomination committee's decision."
All Busan mayoral preliminary candidates publicly opposed single-candidate nominations. Mayor Park criticized: "Cutting off incumbent local government heads and making single-candidate nominations without any standards is neither a winning nomination nor a reform nomination. This is Chairman Lee destroying the party in the name of reform nominations—nothing more, nothing less than a madman's sword dance."
Representative Joo also stated, "I sincerely want a primary."
Meanwhile, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon continues last-minute deliberations on whether to participate in additional Seoul mayoral nomination applications opening on the 17th. The People Power Party leadership took a conciliatory stance toward Mayor Oh by suspending reappointments of spokesperson Park Min-young and others targeted for "personnel renewal." However, Mayor Oh still runs parallel to the leadership, maintaining preconditions such as "launching a reform election strategy committee."
