Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig, a member of the ruling People Power Party's (PPP) interim leadership, left, speaks during a standing members' meeting of the party's national committee on changing the party's rules for the election of its next chairman at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has changed a rule for electing its next leader in the upcoming national convention, in a way that can be seen as favoring candidates close to President Yoon Suk-yeol. 
Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min / Joint Press Corps
If approved at the national committee meeting to be held on Friday, the new rule will be applied to elect the new PPP chairman in the upcoming leadership contest.
Under the new rule, only party members will be allowed to cast their votes to elect the PPP's chairman.
Currently, party members' votes account for 70 percent of the results, while the remaining 30 percent will reflect a public opinion survey.
The results of previous contests showed that party members tend to be more loyal to the current leadership, whereas non-partisan delegates tend to cast their votes for candidates who challenge the current leadership. Therefore, if only party members are allowed to vote, candidates who are close to President Yoon are expected to garner more votes than their rivals critical of the president.
Factions in the party have been trading barbs over the move. The anti-Yoon faction is crying foul over the rule change, with leading candidate Yoo Seong-min saying, "It is like moving the goalposts during a football match," while the pro-Yoon faction is criticizing Yoo's resistance.
During a standing members' meeting of the PPP's national committee, Tuesday, the members decided to table a motion calling for the rule change.
"We decided to change the rule in order to ensure a democratic process and reflect party members' voices," PPP interim leadership member Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig said.
The rule change came amid public surveys showing that Yoo, a former lawmaker who has long been critical of the president, is leading the race.
Unlike the public surveys, the party's members are maintaining strong support for President Yoon, thus the new rule of taking only party members' votes into account will likely be an advantage for pro-Yoon faction candidates, such as Reps. Kweon Seong-dong and Kim Gi-hyeon.
The PPP rewrote the rule after news reports that President Yoon said he prefers reflecting party members' votes only.
Yoo denounced the party's move, calling it "power that is running out of control."
"It was like moving the goalposts during a football match," Yoo said during an interview with broadcaster KBS, Monday. "The president and (the party) are doing too much just to get me."
"This will be remembered as a dark chapter of the party's history," Rep. Ha Tae-keung, who has also been critical of the president, said in a radio interview with broadcaster BBS.
"In the past, there were discussions among lawmakers to address such important matters, but that process was missing this time," Ha added. "Is this the right way to help President Yoon? It is nothing more than tarnishing Yoon's reputation and weakening the president's grip on state affairs."
The pro-Yoon faction is welcoming the rule change and slamming Yoo for his resistance.
"There are nearly 1 million party members who can cast their ballots," said Rep. Lee Chul-gyu, who is the secretary of a pro-Yoon faction study forum, during a radio interview with broadcaster MBC, Tuesday. "How can a survey of 2,000 people represent the public sentiment?"
He continued, "Yoo is thinking that he is far from party members' choice but trying to run for the chairmanship, which is nonsense."
"The owner of the party is its members," PPP Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon wrote on Facebook, criticizing the "recklessness of (Yoo) not believing the party members but wanting to be their leader."
Along with the change in voting, the PPP also decided to adopt a run-off election between the top two candidates, if the leading candidate fails to gain more than 50 percent of the total votes.
Once the rule change is completed, the PPP's race for its chairmanship will kick off. The party is expected to organize an election commission next week and begin receiving applications from hopefuls next month.
