Seoul: The conservative People Power Party (PPP) set in motion an unprecedented process to replace its presidential candidate on Saturday, as talks on merging the candidacies of its standard-bearer Kim Moon-soo and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo collapsed the previous day. The party convened an emergency committee and election management body at the same time to begin a process to make decisions on the cancellation of Kim’s candidacy, Han’s party membership, and candidacy registration, among other topics.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the move came amid fears that if Kim and Han fail to unify their candidacy at a time of deepening fissures within the country’s conservative camp, chances of a conservative win in the June 3 presidential poll would further diminish given that Lee Jae-myung, the liberal Democratic Party candidate, has been widening his lead.

When the PPP finalizes its decisions on key election issues, it plans to have all party members vote on the decisions, after which it will name its ultimate flag-bearer at a national committee meeting set for Sunday-a deadline by which a party candidate must register their candidacy with the state election committee.

In its pursuit of a candidate replacement, the party invoked a clause stipulating that when there is a “considerable” reason, the party can make a decision regarding the election of a presidential candidate through an emergency committee decision.

In various opinion polls, Han was ahead of Kim. In this week’s National Barometer Survey poll, Lee garnered 43 percent support, trailed by former Han with 23 percent and Kim with 12 percent. On Friday, a Seoul court dismissed Kim’s petition challenging the party leadership’s push to merge his campaign with Han’s, while PPP lawmakers agreed to hand over full authority to the party leadership to possibly reselect its presidential candidate.