With her potential bid for Seoul mayor being discussed, People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won has lately been taking steps aimed at the party base. As chair of the party’s Local Election General Planning Committee, she prepared a primary rule of ‘70% party-member vote vs. 30% public poll’, which some see as a possible factor in next year’s Seoul mayoral nomination race.

On the 24th, in opening remarks at an ‘Emergency Forum to Enact a Special Act to Recover Criminal Proceeds from the Daejang-dong Scandal’ held in the main building of the National Assembly, she said, “The country is truly in ruins,” adding, “What we must do is return the Daejang-dong criminal proceeds to the people.” After the caucus that day, she told reporters, “To block all of the Democratic Party’s evil bills that say ‘We will discipline prosecutors’ and ‘We will punish judges and prosecutors for distortion’, our tool is a single filibuster (unlimited debate),” and, “As the opposition, fully using the filibuster is our duty to protect Korea’s democracy and the rule of law.”

The previous day on Facebook, she also aimed at the government and ruling party, writing, “If you have milked ‘martial-law mongering and insurrection-mongering’ all year long, stop milking it.” On SBS Radio on the 19th, she said, “Isn’t it unnecessary to cast aside those who support our party’s candidate by saying, ‘You are Yoon Again and election-fraud theorists, so you are out’?” Observers see her issuing messages tailored to hardline supporters and stepping to the forefront of confrontation with the administration.

There is a view that such moves by Na could become a factor in a Seoul mayoral primary landscape expected to favor Mayor Oh. On the 21st, she prepared a plan to change the rule from ‘50% party vote, 50% poll’ to ‘70% party vote, 30% poll’. If adopted, because it increases the likelihood that a figure backed by core supporters becomes the nominee, analysts say Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoonwho had mentioned supporting the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeolcould be disadvantaged in the primary.

A People Power Party official said, “With a 70% to 30% rule, it would become favorable to Rep. Na,” adding, “In the 2021 primary as well, Mayor Oh could win because the polling ratio was high.” It is said that in the preliminary primary for the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, conducted under a ‘20% party vote vs. 80% poll’ rule, Na led Mayor Oh in the party-member vote, but lost in the main primary that used a ‘100% poll’ rule. Some within the party also question whether it is appropriate that Rep. Na, as head of the Local Election General Planning Committee who prepared a proposal on the primary rules, is being mentioned as a potential candidate.

There is also a view that if the ‘70% to 30%’ rule is introduced, former leader Han Dong-hoon and former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, who have been floated as potential draft candidates for Gyeonggi governor, would find it hard to run in the local elections. Supreme Council member Kim Min-su, whose possible bids for Gyeonggi governor or Seongnam mayor have been mentioned, has also recently continued moves targeting the hardline conservative base on Threads, writing, “Yoon Again youths and friends! Thank you for your unwavering hearts.” To change the local-election primary rulewhich is currently stipulated in the party charter and regulations as ‘50% party vote vs. 50% poll’the plan must be approved by the Supreme Council meeting, the Standing National Committee, and the National Committee.