‘Pro-Roh’ Rep. Woo Yoon-keun elected as floor leader of NPAD

A three-term lawmaker Woo Yoon-keun (Gwangyang and Gurye in South Jeolla Province) was elected as the new floor leader of the main opposition party New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) on Friday. In the run-off vote, Rep. Woo got 64 of the total 118 (out of 130 seats) votes cast. New floor leader’s term is the remaining seven months left by the predecessor, former floor leader Park Young-sun.

The election showed a deep discord between the factions inside the party. Rep. Woo gained support from the pro-Roh (the late former President Roh Moo-hyun) fraction. With Woo’s election winning, the discord between a faction loyal to Roh and others not loyal to Roh will be deepening. The struggle over the party hegemony will become intense among party factions as the national convention is scheduled next year.

Rep. Woo got 42 votes in the first round, lagging behind Rep. Lee Jong-geol (43 votes) representing the moderate. However, it is analyzed that Woo won the election by gaining significant portion of votes cast for Rep. Lee Mok-hee (33 votes), who came in the third place at the first round. Rep. Lee Jong-geol ended up with 52 votes in the run-off.

New floor leader will become an ex officio member of the party’s emergency planning committee and will lead efforts to build the structure of the opposition party, including making decisions over the party’s organization reinforcement special committee and the election for national convention.

The new floor leader is known as a moderate rationalist. After joining the campaign camp as a division leader for then-candidate Moon Jae-in during 2012 presidential election, Woo has maintained a close relationship with Rep. Moon.