 Hopefuls, right, register their candidacy for the April 9 National Assembly elections in Wansan-gu, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Official campaigning begins Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Major parties set aside several constituencies in Seoul and other provinces under the name of what they called ``strategic districts.'' Political scientists began questioning if the top-down way of nominations in legislative representatives serves the interests of local residents.
With the policy of strategic nomination, the screening committees of parties can reject all candidates having applied for the candidacy and instead hire outside renowned figures who have never lived in or known about the districts in the nomination.
Article 92 of the platform of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) stated the screening committee is allowed to select strategic electoral districts and search for qualified candidates.
The party's screening committee is entitled not only to designate which constituencies are strategic but also to nominate candidates to run in the April 9 elections.
When it comes to these strategic districts, all decisions are in the hands of a handful of screening panel members.
The GNP's policy is regarded as benchmarking by the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), as well as to other minor parties.
A few districts in Seoul, including Dongjak and Jung-gu, are designated as strategic districts. Screening panels of major parties named big-name politicians for the areas.
Due to this special nomination method, several candidates were nominated in districts they never applied for.
Those who were nominated in Jung-gu, Nowon and a few other districts in Seoul were called upon by the screening committees to take on the demanding job.
Heated campaigns have been underway in these districts since the beginning of the campaign. Recent opinion polls showed too-close-to-call campaigns in the districts.
A group of political scientists are questioning if the parties' strategic nominations are a desirable representation method.
``In fact, there is criticism about the top-down nominations,'' Lee Hyun-chool, director of political and parliamentary affairs at the National Assembly Research Service, said.
``Lawmakers are legislative representatives who should represent the best interests of their constituents,'' he said in an interview with The Korea Times.
Lee was referring to the fact that the vast majority of these people who were called upon by party leaders to run in the strategic districts are not from the districts and therefore not knowledgeable of their constituency.
``It seems unavoidable for party leaders to face criticism that the strategic nominations are undemocratic because local residents' voices are not heard in the nominations,'' he said.
``And selection was solely based upon the needs of these parties, not the interests of voters,'' the analyst said.
Jung-gu
Political analyst Lee is not the only one casting doubts about the role of the non-local candidates in the representation system.
Candidates themselves are also feeling pressure.
The Jung-gu district in Seoul drew public attention after minor Liberty Forward Party (LFP) leader Lee Hoi-chang named Shin Eun-kyung, a former KBS Nightly News anchor, in the nomination.
Shin is the wife of incumbent lawmaker Park Sung-vum, who failed to win the GNP nomination. Park left the party immediately after the nomination was unveiled.
Before leaving the GNP, Park told reporters the criteria of the nomination were not convincing. ``There were neither principles nor standards,'' Park continued, ``The nominations reflected an intense power struggle among a few party leaders.''
LFP leader Lee suggested Park's wife to seriously consider running in the election in her husband's district and confront her GNP counterpart, Rep. Na Kyung-won.
Na, a former GNP spokeswoman, won the strategic nomination after her first choice in Songpa went to fail.
The screening committee of the governing party advised Na to look at the strategic district as her second choice.
With Shin's joining the district as an LFP candidate, the race in Jung-gu heated up as two ``politically'' appointed candidates are vying for the parliamentary seat.
A recent YTN poll found Na's support standing at 45 percent, distancing Shin by a double-digit margin.
Election experts, however, said it remains to be seen how the results will turn out since the former KBS anchor is widely supported by women.
Two Chungs Vying in Dongjak
Two big-name politicians ― fifth-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon of the GNP and former presidential candidate Chung Dong-young of then United New Democratic Party, a predecessor of the UDP ― are competing in the district.
Dongjak is another strategic district for the two parties.
The latest Chosun Ilbo newspaper poll showed that the GNP's Chung is leading the race with 49.3 percent. The other Chung's figure stands at 37.4 percent.
Facing the allegation that he was elected five times in his previous district of Ulsan and wouldn't be familiar with Dongjak, GNP lawmaker Chung said he is catching up with major issues of the region and added, ``It's time to move on.''
The UDP's Chung said he is the candidate who is prepared to represent the interest of working-class families who account for the majority of the population.
Eunpyeong
Rep. Lee Jae-oh, a right-hand man of President Lee Myung-bak, and former presidential candidate Moon Kook-hyun, a business leader-turned-politician, are vying for the parliamentary seat in Eunpyeong, Seoul.
Lee was behind the massive cut of pro-Park Geun-hye lawmakers in the GNP nominations.
Reports said Lee wielded his muscle in an attempt to ``get rid of the root cause'' of possible future rivals in the party's primaries to select the chairman, which is to take place in July.
Rep. Lee has been under attack for his ``too active role'' in the selection process. Under pressure from the allegations, reports say Lee has expressed his desire to withdraw from the race to the President. The final decision regarding whether the lawmaker will still run in the election has not made yet.
A recent poll said Lee trails his rival Moon in the race.
The latest YTN survey showed the Creative Korea Party (CKP) leader Moon is leading in the Eunpyeong district with support of t50 percent. Lee is in second place by about 20 percentage points.
Pollsters said Lee's leading role in the promotion of the contentious canal project contributed to his diminished popularity.
Last year, Lee had a bicycle tour with aides to major cities in southern provinces where the cross-country canal will pass through once the plan is adopted.
During the on-site tour, the lawmaker spread the gospel of what he called the eco-friendly waterway project to local residents.
An MBC poll taken last month found the majority of respondents (52.6 percent) said they opposed the plan to build the inland canal linking Seoul to Busan. Other polls supported the trend.
Moon made clear his opposition to the canal project, claiming the land use plan would only undermine the ecosystem.
The former presidential candidate won approximately 1,350,000 votes, or 5.82 percent of the vote in last year's presidential election.
Moon, a former chief executive officer of Yuhan Kimberly, recently created a media frenzy for his choice of a woman from the Philippines as a candidate under the proportional representation system.
The candidate has lived in the country for 15 years and was married to a Korean who passed away several years ago.
The Korea Times made several phone calls to reach the candidate, who was not available.
CKP Vice Spokeswoman Kim Ji-hye told The Korea Times that Moon's candidate selection reflected his deep interest in human rights for foreigners.
Jongno
Jongno district, called Korea's No. 1 political avenue, is now the site of a battleground with UDP Co-chairman Sohn Hak-kyu challenging second-term lawmaker Park Jin, one of the most respected voices in the Korea-US relations in the parliament.
UDP leader Sohn justified his bid for the parliamentary election, arguing he ran for the election to get politics back on the right track.
Claiming that President Lee has made several mistakes since taking office on Feb. 25, Sohn said he would play a leading role in preventing the possible policy fiasco in the future in the parliament.
Previously, Sohn, former Gyeonggi governor, won the Assembly election three times in the Gwangmyeong district, Gyeonggi Province.
GNP lawmaker Park has distinguished himself from Sohn by underscoring that he was born and raised in the Jongno district.
``I know what these people want much more than my counterpart because I am a native of Jongno,'' Park said.
Park said he had passion and energy to make a difference for the Jongno residents.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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