On the 5th, it was reported that voices urging the swift unification between Kim Moon-soo, the party's presidential candidate, and independent candidate Han Duck-soo were flooding the online group chat of People Power Party lawmakers.
Accordingly, the People Power Party is becoming increasingly likely to convene an emergency general meeting this afternoon at 7 p.m. to urge this.
According to multiple party officials, the previous night in the People Power Party group chat, a lawmaker shared a Facebook post from former lawmaker Jo Hae-jin urging unification negotiations and demanded, "What is really important?" while calling for a swift unification.
The lawmaker who declared support for Kim during the primary process stated, "Residents' discontent is reaching a peak. If personal interests lead to distraction, I will make a decision," and requested the convening of a general meeting.
More than 10 lawmakers, including senior members, responded to the post urging unification, saying, "It's a matter of life or death" and "Division is certain defeat" while demanding the gathering of a general meeting.
A lawmaker who is appointed as the secretary general and serves as the overall campaign chairman for Kim's campaign also reportedly stated, "There are important things I want to say," calling for the convening of the general meeting.
Four-term lawmakers Kim Do-woop, Kim Sang-hoon, Park Deok-heum, Yoon Young-seok, Lee Jong-bae, Lee Heon-seung, and Han Gi-ho announced a press statement on this day, stating that "unification should occur before the candidate registration deadline on the 11th."
The rising calls for swift unification within the party reflect dissatisfaction over the slow pace of unification negotiations with Han since Kim was selected as the party's presidential candidate on the 3rd.
There is criticism that Kim, who showed a proactive stance on unification with Han during the primary phase and received support from party members and lawmakers, has become passive in discussing unification after actually becoming the candidate.
After registering his name as a presidential candidate at Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 5th, Han proposed to Kim, "Let's meet today at the time and place you prefer." Kim reportedly replied briefly, "Yes," but did not give a definite answer.
Accordingly, if a meeting between the two does not take place today, holding an emergency general meeting is expected to be inevitable.
Lawmakers of the People Power Party, who have been advocating for unification, have insisted that unification should take place before the 7th, considering the schedule for producing campaign materials. If they are willing to tolerate the delay in material production, the 9th, before the candidate registration period (10th-11th), could serve as a second deadline.
If this deadline is missed, even if Han is elected as the single candidate, he will not be able to use the People Power Party's symbol number 2 and will find it difficult to receive organizational and financial support from the party.