[Column] Vision, not the blind loyalty, matters

The PPP must pave the way for new conservatives.

Choi HoonThe author is the chief editor of the JoongAng Ilbo. A key official or associate of the president came into the limelight since Lee Dong-kwan, the early spokesman for former president Lee Myung-bak. After Lee, the spokesperson, requested anonymity when he gave an informal briefing to correspondents at the presidential office, he was cited as “an official of the Blue House.” But after a media outlet referred to him as a “key official” of the Blue House, most of them followed. Lee became the primary source from the presidential office after the president’s first chief of staff ordered all statements to be delivered through the spokesman. Other senior secretaries to the president were cited as “senior officials from the Blue House” and lower secretaries simply as “officials from the Blue House.”

Fifteen years after the nuanced episode, phrases such as “key officials or associates loyal to President Yoon Suk Yeol” are frequently used by the media. The People Power Party’s (PPP) national convention on March 8 to pick its new leader has turned into a contest to show off a connection or closeness to the president. But if it boils down a loyalty contest at least for a month, the PPP will likely suffer a defeat in the parliamentary elections in April next year. Since its razor-thin victory in last year’s presidential election, the PPP has lost much of its appeal.

According to a recent Gallup Korea poll, as many as 31.9 percent of eligible voters claimed to be centrist. They are overwhelmingly negative toward the president (63 percent vs. 29 percent). Among the conservatives, 64 percent approved of the president while 31 percent disapproved. Among the liberals, negative view towers at 85 percent versus 10 percent approval.

The sentiment of the moderates has titled more towards the liberal. If the PPP cannot win their votes, it can hardly expect a victory in the next parliamentary election. Based on the approval rating of the president, the PPP has only 36 percent support versus 55 percent disapproval in the capital region. The party also lost favor with voters in their 30s (approval at 22 percent and disapproval at 66 percent), as well as those in their 40s (24 percent vs. 73 percent), and those in their 50s (35 percent vs. 63 percent).

In the voter support rate for political parties, the PPP is slightly ahead of rival Democratic Party (DP) at 37 percent versus 32 percent, because DP Chair Lee Jae-myung is under criminal investigation. However, by the time the parliamentary elections are around the corner, the Lee risk could wear off and the DP could establish new leadership. In that case, PPP no longer would be able to blame everything on the previous Moon Jae-in administration as the legislative election will turn into a kind of mid-term referendum on the government by that time. The economic conditions also work unfavorably towards the PPP. So, the new PPP leadership to be picked from the March convention will find itself stuck at a crossroads: a fall or leap from then on.

The PPP will elect its new leader entirely through the votes from party members with voting rights. The results could be out of sync with the public sentiment. If loyalty, hard-lines or rightwing extremism prevail over various issues, a doom always awaits the conservative party. In the parliamentary elections in 2020, the party performed the worst in its 60-year history, winning 103 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The PPP turned to the extreme right after losing a balance in an uphill battle against the liberal Moon Jae-in administration. After elected chairman of the United Future Party (UFP), the predecessor of the PPP, in the national convention in 2019, Hwang Kyo-ahn declared that the Taegeukgi troops — the ultra-right crowds swinging or wearing national flag during rallies — were “people who are committed to the nation,” implying his embrace of the far-rightist group. Right wing lawmakers soon followed with comments defaming the May 18 Democratization Movement. That’s not all. During the 2020 parliamentary elections, they infuriated the families of the Sewol ferry victims and the progressives in their 30s and 40s by accusing them of being “monstrously ignorant and misled,” which end up losing the precious votes from the middle-of-the-roaders.

In the 2016 parliamentary elections at the end of the conservative Park Geun-hye administration, the UFP had a crushing defeat after wasting time waging a childish fight over what candidates were really loyal to the president. Ahead of the 2004 parliamentary elections, the conservative party was gripped by hatred towards then-president Roh Moo-hyun, an outsider to the mainstream politics. Obsessed with group hypnosis and madness, the party pushed for the impeachment of Roh. The PPP lost half of its legislative seats as a result. Both the conservative and liberal parties can be ruined if they go to the extreme right or left.

Blind loyalty and collective spell can be poisonous. The PPP has no hope in the next parliamentary elections if its national convention on March 8 ends up with votes for an aspirant leader claiming to have exclusive support from President Yoon under the strict command of the interim head of the party. The party will completely go down if the in-house power struggle generates exposure on shady deals over nominations for candidacy for next year’s elections. A party convention spoiled by internal friction and outdated ways will harm the Yoon administration regardless of the president’s remarkable achievements in the UAE, as well as his successful crusade to reform labor unions and normalize the nuclear energy and real estate policies.

The PPP must pave the way for new conservatives. Giving fair opportunities to the people as opposed to giving orders under socialism is the pillar to the Tories, the oldest conservative party in the world. The PPP also must vow to stimulate corporate investment, lift regulations, cut public-sector expenditures and taxes, widen liberalization, reform the inward unions, and do away with populism. At the same time, the PPP must find a way the conservative principles and social welfare can harmonize. It has already promised to undertake labor, pension and education reforms.

The party must revitalize youthful participation that has waned since the disgraceful exit of former thirtysomething chair Lee Jun-seok.