As Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the People Power Party (PPP), officially announced his candidacy for the Busan Buk-gu Gap by-election, prompting calls for the PPP to forgo nomination in the district, PPP lawmaker Lee Heon-seung said Thursday that "as a responsible political party, it is our duty to first nominate someone who shares our party's values and direction."
Lee, who represents Busan's Jinju-gu Eul constituency, wrote on Facebook that "a political party is an association of people who share political ideals, and the party's goal is to realize those political ideals through winning power." His statement was a public opposition to the recently raised calls for no nomination in Buk-gap.
"A party's nomination is not a choice but a responsibility," Lee said. "The moment a party does not field a candidate, it abandons its responsibility to voters."
He added, "Every party member has the right to run for office. Restricting or preemptively blocking that right at the party level would rather harm party democracy. Elections are about results, but the process must be legitimate to earn the people's choice."
"If we reverse the order and focus only on results, we will never regain public trust," Lee said. "It would not be too late to first conduct a fair nomination within the party and then expand our coalition based on the inevitable value of conservative unity."
He added, "When all candidates compete fairly based on conservative values, our party can expand its base and achieve victory."
