New People Power Party Chairman Han Dong-hoon clinches his fist during his acceptance speech after being elected as the new leader of the ruling party during its national convention at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap Han Dong-hoon wins majority of votes as expected By Kwak Yeon-soo The ruling People Power Party (PPP) elected Han Dong-hoon as its new leader, Tuesday, giving him a mandate to reform the party in the wake of its stinging defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections and to resolve internal conflicts leading up to the national convention. The party convention, which took place at KINTEX convention hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, comes three months after Han resigned from his post as interim leader, taking responsibility for the election defeat.
Han won 62.84 percent of the votes, the PPP’s election committee said, an outcome that was widely expected as he led opinion polls for the party’s leadership role. As Han won a majority of votes, a runoff between the top two candidates became unnecessary.
Han’s opponents — former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong received 18.85 percent of the votes; five-term lawmakers Rep. Na Kyung-won and Rep.
Yoon Sang-hyun secured 14.58 percent and 3.73 percent of the ballots, respectively.
The PPP conducted a four-day vote from Friday to Monday, during which 408,272 out of 841,614 paying party members cast their ballots through either mobile or voice-based voting, resulting in a voter turnout of 48.51 percent.