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| ▲ A file photo of ruling People Power Party's new floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) ruling party-floor leader
(LEAD) 5-term lawmaker Joo Ho-young elected ruling party's new floor leader
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details)
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Monday elected five-term lawmaker Joo Ho-young as its new floor leader.
Joo beat two-term lawmaker Lee Yong-ho with 61 out of 106 votes at a general meeting of PPP lawmakers.
Joo will serve as floor leader until April 2023.
His election came less than a month after a court suspended his duties as the PPP's emergency leadership committee chair on Aug. 26, a decision seen as a victory for former party Chairman Lee Jun-seok in a duel against mainstream PPP members close to President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The PPP has since launched a new emergency committee led by Vice National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk.
The PPP, however, has yet to completely overcome the crisis, as Lee has filed another injunction suit against Chung's leadership. The Seoul Southern District Court is set to hold a hearing on the case later this month.
Joo is considered a moderate conservative politician less close with Yoon compared with former floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong. Kweon is considered one of the core members of the party faction close to Yoon, known as "Yoonhaekgwan" in Korean.
Yoonhaekgwan has been at the center of a row between the president and ousted PPP Chairman Lee.
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