The People Power Party (PPP) has appointed four-term lawmaker Park Deok-heum as the new chair of its Nomination Management Committee, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of former chair Lee Jeong-hyun.
PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk told reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday, "We are planning to appoint Rep. Park, a senior multi-term lawmaker who is highly trusted both on the parliamentary floor and within the party, as nomination committee chair."
"We intend to wrap up the remaining local election nomination work and form a separate nomination committee to handle the upcoming by-election nominations," Jang said. "We plan to constitute it entirely anew."
Regarding regions where nomination work remains, Jang noted, "There are areas with variables due to injunction filings, Gyeonggi Province, and some basic local government units where candidate applications have not been fully completed." He added, "The new nomination committee will be fully capable of wrapping these up."
Jang also commented on former chair Lee, who resigned the previous day on May 31. "He put in considerable effort and nearly completed the nomination work for the local elections," Jang said.
Rep. Park is a four-term senior lawmaker representing the Boeun-Okcheon-Yeongdong-Goesan constituency in Chungcheongbuk-do. In addition to finishing the remaining local election nominations, Park is expected to lead the nomination process for the upcoming National Assembly by-elections, which are anticipated to be on the scale of a "mini general election."