PPP delays vote on Jang's party branch overhaul plan amid internal backlash

The People Power Party is struggling with internal divisions over a plan, championed by party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, to reselect all local branch chairs through a member vote. While Jang has pushed the proposal as part of his vision for a "member-centered party," floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik and other senior lawmakers have continued to voice opposition.

At its supreme council meeting Monday, the PPP discussed changing the method for selecting local branch chairs but deferred a decision to the next meeting — the second postponement since Thursday. Jang was quoted as saying he would "gather diverse opinions from supreme council members and discuss a reasonable approach."

The plan under review by Jang and the party leadership would require all 254 local branch chairs nationwide to stand for reselection through a member vote. Rather than automatically extending the terms of branch chairs whose mandates expire at the end of this month — as has been the practice — the leadership wants them to face a fresh evaluation. The proposal is part of Jang's broader push to build a "member-centered party."

Chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon told reporters after the meeting that the proposal was "an idea that came out of a desire to reorganize the party structure and transform it into one that can fight properly in the next general election." He added that the leadership decided not to put the item to a vote Monday because "in a situation where the sincerity behind it is being distorted in some quarters, it was judged too early to reach a conclusion."

Resistance within the party over the direct member election of branch chairs has been mounting. Lawmakers from the Yeongnam region and senior members have openly spoken out against the plan at general membership meetings, and floor leader Jeong — one of the party's two top figures — is also reported to have expressed opposition.

Regional organizations are also divided. A canvassing of provincial and metropolitan party chapters conducted through Wednesday found that nine of the 14 chapters that submitted opinions favored keeping the current system, under which branch chairs are selected by the branch council's steering committee.

Dissenting voices have emerged within the supreme council itself. Council member Yang Hyang-ja said at Monday's meeting that "reorganizing and reforming local branches is absolutely necessary for victory in the 2028 general election." She added that she had "felt it in her bones" during the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial race just how much a well-managed branch organization can make a difference in an election. Youth council member Woo Jae-jun, however, came out against the reselection plan.

The sharpest pushback has come from sitting lawmakers who also serve as local branch chairs. They argue that a member-vote reselection process would create unnecessary competition between incumbent lawmakers and their local organizations. A sweeping shake-up of those organizations with just over two years until the next general election could actually undermine the party's electoral competitiveness, they say.

A two-term lawmaker who chairs a local branch warned that holding a primary to reselect branch chairs "would only deepen the divisions within the party." Running a constituency where the branch chair and the sitting lawmaker operate separately, the lawmaker said, "is hastening defeat in the next general election."