New GNP Leader, Park Keun-hye

Congresswoman Park Keun-hye has been elected as the new chief representative of the Grand National Party.

After summing up the survey targeted toward the public and the party representatives at the temporary party convention held on March 23 in Seoul, Park obtained 51.8 percent of the 5,504 ballots, or 2,624 votes.

Collecting 1,453 votes, which account for 28.8 percent of all ballots cast, Hong Sa-deok finished second, with Kim Moon-su, Park Jin, and Kwon Oh-eul following.

As the public survey shows, the support ratio for Park Keun-hye and Congressman Hong was 49 percent and 21 percent respectively.

Park will take charge of the chief party representative role for three months until the next regular party convention, which is scheduled to be held this June, and assume the burden of leading the interim structure of the party before and after the upcoming general election.

At her acceptance address, Park disclosed, “The party and our mother country both suffer from overall difficulties. Overcoming the boundaries between conservation and progression, I will win in the general election at any cost by conducting the policies connected to the realities. In order to rid of any corruption, I will remove the eligibility of any party member who is indicted by the prosecution, and kick him or her out of the party forever if the court delivers a final judgment of guilty.”

Under the presidency of Han Sun-kyo, a renowned television announcer, the party convention went through the formalities of an opening declaration, candidates’ address, representatives’ vote, and “New GNP promulgation ceremony.”

At this convention, 2,674 out of 4,457 party representatives appeared, approximately 60 percent participation ratio.

By summing up the public survey and party representative votes, the election was scheduled to go on to a second election if the first candidate did not receive more than 50 percent of the votes. However, Park obtained 51.8 percent, allowing no room for a second vote.

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com