Representative Song Eon-seok of 'TK 3-term' (Gyeongbuk Gimcheon) was elected as the first floor leader after the defeat in the June 3 presidential election. He now faces the heavy task of managing the heightened internal strife over party renewal plans and establishing a legislative strategy as a minor party against the major opposition party.
On that day, Representative Song received 60 votes out of a total of 106 cast in the floor leader election held at the National Assembly.
He was elected easily, surpassing Kim Seong-won (3-term, Gyeonggi Dongducheon) and Lee Heon-seung (4-term, Busan Busanjin) who received 30 votes and 16 votes, respectively. He secured victory without a runoff by receiving a majority in the first vote.
There were speculations within the party that it could go to a runoff, but he won with a comfortable margin.
Representative Song, a former bureaucrat who served as the Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance under the Park Geun-hye administration, has successfully achieved a 3-term position in Gyeongbuk Gimcheon. He is known as an economic expert, having held positions such as the Chairperson of the Planning and Finance Committee in the 22nd National Assembly, secretary of the Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, and the floor deputy leader.
Ahead of this election, various interpretations emerged as the interests of regional bases such as Daegu and Gyeongbuk (Song Eon-seok), Busan and Gyeongnam (Lee Heon-seung), and the metropolitan area (Kim Seong-won) intertwined with the former mainstream (pro-Yoon Suk-yeol faction), neutral factions, and pro-Han (pro-Han Dong-hun) factions.
In particular, there is a strong expectation that this could be a turning point in establishing the party's direction and identity, extending beyond a simple change of leadership in the floor leadership.
In response, an analysis emerged that former mainstream factions, including the old pro-Yoon faction, and lawmakers from TK (Daegu-Gyeongbuk) supported Representative Song due to a sense of crisis spurred by demands for party renewal.
Representative Song is considered part of the pro-Yoon (Yoon Suk-yeol) faction, having served as the head of the policy coordination headquarters in the camp of former President Yoon Suk-yeol during the last presidential election.
Former Representative Yang Hyang-ja, who served as the co-chair of the election campaign in the last presidential election, issued a statement on Facebook that day, saying, "Today's election for the new floor leader of the People Power Party was an anti-innovation and anti-renewal election. Now our party has regressed into a swamp of martial law, back into the river of impeachment, and back to being the Gyeongbuk party."
Political commentator Choi Soo-young noted, "The return of the old mainstream faction," saying, "It seems there is a sentiment arising from the urgency to unite as an organized group as three special investigations press from the outside." He further pointed out, "While they talk about appointing a chairperson for innovation, how can a new chairperson make a difference when they don't even accept the Kim Yong-tae card?"
Meanwhile, Representative Song promised a 'quiet renewal' by proposing to organize an innovation committee for discussions instead of directly presenting the party's renewal plans.
He stated that the fate of Commissioner Kim Yong-tae, as well as the five reform proposals suggested by the chairperson (▲ holding a party convention by early September ▲ invalidating the party position against presidential impeachment ▲ investigation into the circumstances surrounding attempts to replace candidates in the 21st presidential election and auditing party affairs ▲ establishing procedures to reflect public sentiment during party voting ▲ 100% grassroots nominations for local elections) would be determined through the innovation committee.
As a result, there are projections that the direction and intensity of 'Representative Song Eon-seok’s leadership' in reform will be determined based on who becomes the chairperson of the innovation committee.
A senior lawmaker stated, "It cannot be mere pretense of reform. As much as he has spoken of renewal, appropriate reforms must be implemented. It will be difficult to impress the public with half-hearted appointments of individuals labeled as old pro-Yoon faction members," adding that a chairperson for the innovation committee must be appointed who meets the public's expectations.