On the 25th, the Fatherland Innovation Party elected Rep. Hwang Un-ha (proportional, re-elected) as the floor leader of the 22nd National Assembly. The Fatherland Innovation Party held a general meeting of elected members of the National Assembly (12 people) at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul on this day and made this decision. On this day, the election of the floor leader of the Fatherland Innovation Party was conducted in the so-called conclave (pope election) method, in which all elected candidates gathered together and continued voting until one person was elected, without a separate candidacy process.
It took only 10 minutes for the Fatherland Innovation Party to elect Rep. Hwang Un-ha as its floor leader. Of the 12 elected members, Rep. Hwang was the only one to be re-elected, and the remaining 11, including Representative Cho Kuk, were all elected for the first time, so this was an expected result. Representative Hwang, who is currently serving in Jung-gu, Daejeon, declared not to run for the constituency last February and joined the Fatherland Innovation Party after leaving the Democratic Party of Korea. He subsequently won his re-election, receiving 8 proportional votes.
In November last year, floor leader Hwang was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial related to the ‘Blue House investigation of Ha Myung and interference in the Ulsan mayoral election’. Representative Cho Kuk was also sentenced to two years in prison in the second trial for corruption in his children’s entrance exams. Both of them will lose their seats if they are sentenced to prison during their term in the National Assembly. In the political world, reactions such as “Is the Fatherland Innovation Party a bulletproof two-top party?” and “The defendants did not have enough positions in the National Assembly, so they wore double bulletproof vests to the positions of party leader and floor leader”.
In response to a question about this ‘judicial risk’ at a press conference at the National Assembly on this day, Floor Leader Hwang said, “Both Representative Cho Kuk and I respect the criminal justice system of the Republic of Korea, and we will faithfully follow its conclusion.” He said, “No matter what judgment the court makes, including Representative Cho and me, the party will faithfully prepare for the subsequent situation and reflect the public will in the general election.”
He said, “In this general election, 6.87 million people, or 25% of the people, chose the Fatherland Innovation Party,” and added, “We will become a political party that upholds the will of the people in the general election and puts an early end to the dictatorship of the prosecution, completes prosecution reform, and completes the transition to an advanced country with social rights.” Regarding the situation in which it has become difficult to form a joint negotiating group due to the Democratic Party’s checks, he said, “The current standard for forming a negotiating group (20 seats) is a remnant of the Yushin dictatorship.”
Tags: Cho Kuk Party party leader sentenced years prison floor leader sentenced years prison
