Asia-Pacific

S. Korea's ruling party elects new chairman

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-07-04 17:51

SEOUL - South Korea's ruling Grand National Party elected fourth-term lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo as the new chairman at a national convention Monday.

Among a total of seven contenders, all in their 40s and 50s, four runner-ups were elected supreme council members of the party.

The new leadership was determined by the party's 210,000-strong electoral college and a two-day telephone survey of some 3,000 respondents. Only 25.9 percent of the electoral college cast their ballots Sunday, for which the party blamed heavy rain.

The election comes as the conservative party, which suffered a crushing defeat in by-elections earlier this year, struggles to refashion itself ahead of key parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012.