South Korea's second major parliamentary party, the People Power Party of the country's President Yoon Suk-yeol, has held a general meeting of party lawmakers and decided to switch to a collective leadership system, party Spokesperson Yang Kum-hee confirmed on Monday. 
 
"The lawmakers formed a consensus that the party faces an emergency situation. With the exception of a minority of lawmakers, everyone agreed we are in the middle of an emergency situation," Yang was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying.
 
A total of 89 lawmakers from the People Power Party attended the meeting and ruled that - based on the party's regulations - an emergency committee mechanism can be launched, Yang said. 
 
The party spokesperson noted that "Under Article 96 of the party's rules and regulations, the party can launch an emergency committee system in an emergency situation," adding that the decision must be officially approved at broader party meetings.

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If officially approved, the decision to switch to an emergency committee system would preclude the return of Lee Jun-seok, suspended for 6 months, as party chairman, since the committee will be headed collectively, South Korean Yonhap News Agency noted.
 
The turmoil at the People Power Party leadership began after the party ethics committee suspended Lee over allegations that he had received sexual favors paid by a businessman in 2013 and tried to conceal it after the accusations came to light at the end of the last year.

After Lee's ouster, party organizer Kweon Seong-dong took over as acting chairman, but his leadership was called into question after a press camera caught him exchanging text messages with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, in which Yoon was seen backbiting Lee. 
 
Since Friday, several members of the party's Supreme Council have resigned, attempting to dissolve it so that the party could move to an emergency committee system from the one-man leadership headed by Kweon.

The controversy has also resulted in a drastic decline in Yoon's approval rating, according to Yonhap.