People Power Party sweeps leadership posts in South Gyeongsang Provincial Assembly

The People Power Party swept the leadership posts of the 13th South Gyeongsang Provincial Assembly on Monday, filling all three top positions without opposition participation. The assembly held the first plenary session of its 434th extraordinary session that day to elect the speaker and deputy speakers for the first half of the term. Park Jun, a three-term lawmaker representing Changwon District 4, was elected speaker after running as the sole candidate. Of the 45 lawmakers who cast ballots, 43 voted for Park, with two abstentions.

In the deputy speaker elections, Shin Jong-cheol, a three-term lawmaker from Sancheong, was chosen as first deputy speaker, and Lee Chan-ho, a two-term lawmaker from Changwon District 5, was elected second deputy speaker. Both also ran unopposed. With all three positions filled by People Power Party members, the party holds the entire leadership of the assembly for the first half of the term.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers walked out of the chamber just before the votes, boycotting the elections. The party's 23 members protested that the People Power Party was using its majority to monopolize the leadership posts. The People Power Party currently holds 44 seats in the assembly, compared with 23 for the Democratic Party and one independent. The Democratic Party accused the People Power Party of abandoning cooperative governance and said it would mount an out-of-chamber response.

Newly elected Speaker Park said immediately after his election that he felt "a sense of responsibility heavier than honor," adding that he would "pool the experience and wisdom of lawmakers to navigate the rapidly changing times." He also pledged to "unite the executive branch and the assembly under the shared goal of residents' happiness and the development of South Gyeongsang Province," and vowed to "open a new future for the province through a productive assembly that checks and monitors the executive branch."

With the Democratic Party strongly opposed to how the leadership was formed, conflict over the assembly's organizational structure is expected to intensify from the outset. Clashes between the ruling and opposition parties over the allocation of standing committee chairmanships and the management of the legislative calendar are likely, leaving the assembly poised to begin its term in confrontation rather than cooperation.