Outspoken lawmaker elected new ruling party leader

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout with details from the national convention)
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- The Grand National Party (GNP) on Monday elected an outspoken prosecutor-turned-lawmaker, Hong Joon-pyo, as its new chairman, as the conservative ruling party is struggling to regain popular confidence ahead of next year's major polls.
In the party's national convention held at Seoul's Olympic Gymnastics Hall, the 57-year-old Hong garnered 41,166 votes, followed by Yoo Seung-min, a close aide to Park Geun-hye, a strong presidential hopeful, with 32,157 votes, the party's election commission announced.
"I'll now start reforming the GNP. We should be reborn as a genuine conservative party," Hong said in his acceptance speech.
"I came to the center of the party from the edge. But I will not forget about the spirit from the margin, and I will work hard to bring victory to the GNP in the parliamentary and presidential elections next year."
The GNP's new leadership election was based on a 7-to-3 combination of votes from a 210,000-member electoral college and the outcome of a two-day telephone survey of 3,000 people held over the weekend.
Among a total of seven candidates, four runner-ups -- Reps. Yoo, Na Kyung-won, Won Hee-ryong and Nam Kyung-pil -- were chosen to serve in the party's supreme council, its top decision-making body.
Except Yoo, who was elected in the southeastern city of Daegu, the rest of the lawmakers, who are all in their late 40s and 50s, were elected in the Seoul metropolitan area.



Throughout the campaign period, political debates centered on economic and welfare issues, such as college tuition, tax cuts on corporations and the wealthy, and free lunch programs.
Political watchers have warned that the GNP stands to lose many of the 171 seats that it currently has in the 299-member National Assembly unless it turns voter sentiment around amid negative perceptions about the grim job market and growing income disparity under the pro-business Lee Myung-bak administration.
With Lee in his fourth year of a single five-year term, political watchers are keeping an eye on how the new party leader will keep pace with the current president over key policies and how he will produce a future presidential candidate from the ruling camp.
Park Geun-hye, a former party leader and daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, has been considered as a strong contender for December 2012 presidential election. She has so far topped polls, far ahead of opposition candidates, including Sohn Hak-kyu, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party.


ejkim@yna.co.kr