Lee Yang-soo, the Secretary General of the People Power Party, criticized the party’s nomination candidate Kim Moon-soo for infringing on party governance priorities on the 5th, saying, "Actions that aim to dominate above the party constitution and regulations must cease immediately." In response, Kim's camp rebutted, stating, "We only requested the establishment of the minimum necessary organization to conduct the presidential election."
Party governance priorities refer to the authority that is transferred to a candidate for making decisions regarding overall party governance once the candidate is elected. This is stipulated in Article 74 of the People Power Party constitution.
Secretary General Lee asserted, in a statement distributed to reporters that day, "The authority to adopt party policies lies with the general assembly."
He stated, "Though it's referred to as party governance priorities, existing procedures of the supreme committee and democratic processes specified in the party regulations will be maintained according to the party regulations, and there is no situation where a candidate's full authority is acknowledged regardless of which law is applied."
He added, "In past precedents, when a candidate made a decision, the party leadership respected it and adhered to the procedures outlined in the party regulations; there has never been a case where a candidate's words and intentions surpassed the party constitution and regulations. The highest decision-making body of the party is in the order of the national convention, the central committee, the standing central committee, and the supreme committee, and the authority to adopt party policies lies with the general assembly."
This is interpreted as a rebuttal to Kim's withdrawal from pressures for unification with independent candidate Han Duck-soo, bringing up the "party governance priorities" card.
Kim noted, "A person elected as the presidential candidate can exercise party governance priorities according to the People Power Party constitution. One must not interfere with the party governance priorities exercised by the presidential candidate for unification, and necessary measures will be taken."
Earlier, after Kim's election as the People Power Party’s presidential candidate on the 3rd, his camp met with the party leadership to notify them of plans to replace Secretary General with Representative Jang Dong-hyuk.
However, the party leadership has taken the position that they should retain Secretary General Lee, who has been conducting practical work, considering the possibility of unification, and it is reported that Representative Jang has agreed to this.
On that day, Secretary General Lee posted on his Facebook a capture from the final debate on the 30th of last month, where Kim was asked, "Should the unification with Acting Han Duck-soo occur right after the national convention (May 3)?" and he raised an 'O.'
This appears to be a veiled criticism of Kim's lukewarm response to unification with former Prime Minister Han.
Meanwhile, following Secretary General Lee's statement, Kim's camp said, "What we requested from the party leadership was the establishment of the Central Election Commission and the unification promotion organization, as well as the replacement of the Secretary General. However, these requests were not properly executed. Despite this, it is difficult to understand why claims that one is dominating above the party constitution and regulations have arisen."