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| Rep. Na Kyung-won, left, new floor leader of the main opposition, Liberty Korea Party, shakes hands with National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang at the National Assembly, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Park Ji-won
Rep. Na Kyung-won, the newly elected floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), faces the daunting task of settling a factional division to prepare for the general elections in 2020.
Rifts between rival factions are a deep-rooted problem inside the conservative party since the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.
Na, the first female floor leader of the conservative party, started her first day on the job by meeting with National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang and floor leaders of the other parties.
The LKP has continued to face difficulties since 2016. It was defeated by then opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in the general elections in 2016 and hit by the impeachment of Park one year later. Its support rate has dropped to about 10 percent until recently while its reform committee hasn't come up with any fruitful measures to reboot the party amid a deepening factional feud over its leadership. The party has also been criticized for its poor performance as the main opposition party.
Expectations are high, meanwhile, that she will play a major role to secure a "truce" between rival factions as her victory was supported by the LKP's junior lawmakers and centrists who want to end the party's division.
Na, a four-term lawmaker, is a publicly well-known politician acknowledged for not having close ties to Park. Many LKP members expect it she could resolve the internal dispute, as she won the seat for her vision of party unification and an end to factional strife.
Some insiders say, however, her election could have provided room for the re-emergence of Park's longtime loyalists, who have remained passive since last year, as Na was also backed by their votes in the election.
Na is also expected to form a leadership body as part of the preparation for the 2020 general elections. She has a one-year term as floor leader, but it could be extended to the April general elections in 2020. If so, she will play a crucial role in the nomination process for the 21st Assembly with the right to name candidates.
The 55-year-old politician made her political debut as a special aide for former presidential hopeful Lee Hoi-chang in 2002 after serving as a judge in district courts. After that, she became a proportional representative in 2004 and she didn't lose her seat as a lawmaker for four consecutive terms. She became more popular after she ran for Seoul mayor in 2011.
