The conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) wrapped up its selection of candidates for the April 10 general elections in 212 constituencies as of Sunday. The party's nomination process has drawn enormous attention amid expectations that it would impress voters with what it hopes is a "renovated" selection based on drastic generational change in the current political establishment. The party's efforts seemed to be significant enough to cast off its negative image as a conservative party composed mainly of old faces. Disappointingly enough, however, the party has largely failed to do this, thus darkening its prospects of garnering more support from swing voters who have yet to pick their favorite candidates. For this, the party needs to choose new and young faces ahead of the incumbent politicians. But the party again relied on 90 incumbent lawmakers, of whom less than 16 percent were dropped from the race. Only up to 13 percent of the nominees were in their 50s or younger. Worse still, most of the young figures were allowed to run in constituencies with relatively slimmer chances of victory. The portion of women also fell short of 10 percent as seen in the previous general elections in 2020. The lower portion of incumbent dropouts compared to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea may give the impression that the PPP's nomination process is running more smoothly compared to the DPK, which has been embroiled in a severe in-house rift over the candidate selection process. But the PPP cannot deflect criticism for having failed to impress the people by lacking necessary renovation or vitality. Should the current trend continue until the final phase of the selection, more than 80 percent of the incumbent lawmakers will likely get renominated. The PPP had planned to cut off a considerable number of current lawmakers with more than three-terms in service. Yet it ended in eliminating only one lawmaker, Kim Young-seon, in the Changwon constituency in South Gyeongsang Province. The dropout rate of the current legislators compares badly to those during the 2020 and 2016 elections, when the dropout portions amounted to 44 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Dramatizing this phenomenon, 12 incumbent lawmakers managed to snatch the party ticket in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where nominees are all but guaranteed sure victory. Only three either failed to get nominated or declared they will not run. What matters with the seemingly easy nomination process is more lawmakers are getting the nod despite failing to put on a substantial performance in the National Assembly during their four-year term. For starters, a lawmaker in North Chungcheong Province got selected despite his controversial receipt of billions of won in construction orders for companies run by his family members. Two prosecutors-turned-presidential secretaries were nominated for Busan and Yongin, where conservative party candidates won in the previous three elections. Against this backdrop, skepticism has been increasing whether the party is bracing for the upcoming elections with visions for the future and fresh figures. The lack of innovation and vitality has been further clouding the party's prospects ahead of the elections. Now that the PPP has promised to pick new and young faces in the process of choosing its candidates under the proportional representation system, it needs to abide by its pledge without fail. PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon has been firing salvos at the DPK, saying it has become the private party of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, its chairman. Yet before criticizing the DPK, Han should first look back on the PPP's problems. He should learn from the DPK's case where even five-term and pro-Lee lawmakers Ahn Min-seok and Byeon Jae-il were dropped from nomination. Rep. Lee Chul-gyu, a member of the PPP nomination committee, said "it is an absolute virtue for the strongest to take the flag." What a pity. The PPP should remember such a mindset is the very thing distancing it from the people, especially young and swing voters. Source: Yonhap News Agency