Democratic Party Faces Three-Way Race for Speaker Nomination

The Democratic Party will hold a general meeting of its lawmakers on the 13th to select its candidate for the Speaker of the National Assembly for the second half of the 22nd term, with lawmakers Cho Jung-sik, Kim Tae-nyeon, and Park Jie-won vying in a three-way contest. The winner of the party's primary will effectively be confirmed as the next Speaker.

Rep. Cho Jung-sik resigned from his position as Presidential Special Advisor on Political Affairs to run. Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon leads a study group titled 'The Democratic Party and the Economy'. Rep. Park Jie-won, a five-term lawmaker, first entered the National Assembly in 1992 and served as Chief of Staff to former President Kim Dae-jung and Director of the National Intelligence Service under the Moon Jae-in administration. Leveraging his five-term experience and high public recognition from media interviews, Park has put forth the goal of inaugurating the 'Seventh Republic'.

The method for selecting the Speaker candidate will be a combined score of 80% from lawmakers' votes and 20% from registered party member votes. This marks the first time registered party member votes will be factored into the Speaker's primary. The final candidate will be determined by combining the results of online voting by registered party members from the 11th to the 12th and the in-person voting by lawmakers on the 13th.