Signs are growing that internal divisions within the People Power Party over whether leader Jang Dong-hyeok should step down will drag on. The party's approval rating, which briefly surged after the June 3 local elections, has since reversed course, drawing concern from within and outside the conservative camp.
Jang said Sunday on Facebook that the PPP "aims to be a member-centered party," adding that "the wishes of party members must be respected to the greatest extent possible" when it comes to the fate of a leader they elected or the disciplining of those who violate party rules.
He added that the PPP "aims to be a people's party," and that "now is the time to focus not on a leadership contest but on a people's special prosecutor for violations of suffrage, by-elections, and reform of the National Election Commission and the electoral system."
The remarks were widely read as an appeal to rally the party's hard-line base. Jang said "a member-centered party is the starting point for becoming a people's party."
The PPP's approval rating has been on a downward trend. A Gallup Korea poll released Friday showed the party's support at 24 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous survey.
A survey conducted June 9-11, just after the local elections, put party support at 29 percent — a 7-percentage-point jump from pre-election polling — but the figure has since fallen back to roughly pre-election levels.
The party's unfavorability rating also stands well above that of the rival Democratic Party, at 69 percent compared with 45 percent.
A separate poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, conducted Monday through Tuesday, put PPP support at 29.1 percent, down 8.2 percentage points from the previous survey.
The party's rating had climbed from 31.6 percent just before the elections to 38.1 percent immediately after, but the gains proved short-lived as the momentum failed to hold.
Some observers attribute the slide to the party's failure to read public sentiment — projecting an air of victory by pointing to its win in the Seoul mayoral race and a strong showing in National Assembly by-elections, even as it effectively lost the broader local elections.
The party leadership's refusal to take responsibility for the local election defeat, and its failure to heed calls for change, renewal and conservative rebuilding, has deepened disillusionment among supporters.
Voices of self-criticism are also emerging within the party. Some warn that the debate over Jang's future has escalated into what amounts to an internal disciplinary war — an endless cycle of attacks and counterattacks sapping the party's energy for its opposition campaign against moves to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers and the suffrage-violation controversy.
Critics also point out that the party has failed to capitalize sufficiently on potential gains from the Democratic Party's own internal strife during its leadership convention, as well as on public discontent over high interest rates, elevated prices, a weak won, falling share prices and a sharp rise in real estate prices.
Inside the PPP, some are arguing that the question of Jang's future must be resolved before the Democratic Party's leadership convention concludes on Aug. 17.
A growing sense of crisis holds that if the Democratic Party rallies behind a newly elected leader while the PPP remains fractured, conservative supporters could turn their backs on the party.
Should the party enter the regular National Assembly session in September still mired in falling approval ratings, observers say it will struggle to mount an effective opposition campaign — including pushing for a special prosecutor probe into the National Election Commission, blocking a "withdrawal of indictment" special prosecutor bill, and opposing the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers.
Yet with Jang effectively signaling his intent to serve out his full two-year term through next August — backed by hard-line party members — and embarking on a nationwide grassroots tour, some expect the debate over his future to drag on through the end of the year.
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
