A group of 16 junior lawmakers bolted from the pro-government party Friday to align with other forces and establish a reformist bloc to challenge the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) in December's presidential election, Yonhap News Agency reported.
With early surveys predicting an overwhelming victory for the GNP, liberal forces have been struggling over the past several months to form an alliance to enhance the chances of a liberal candidate in the presidential election.
" We apologize for the fact that the Uri Party failed to heal divisions among the reformist, democratic forces and live up to public expectations. We will follow a new path of national unity according to the people's wishes," the 16 lawmakers said in a statement.
The lawmakers said they would join forces with those who have already deserted the Uri Party and other liberal groups to establish a new party with a broad membership.
Founded by President Roh Moo-hyun in 2003, the Uri Partyhas been embroiled in fierce factional bickering as the party's popularity fell due mainly to the Roh government's failure to address economic problems and the North Korean nuclear standoff.
Dozens of lawmakers have quit the Uri Party since January and Roh himself relinquished his party membership as members called on him to distance himself from local politics.
Members of another Uri Party dissenters' group said last week that they would merge with the minor opposition Democratic Party (DP), a party they left just months after Roh's inauguration in early 2003 to launch the Uri Party with a platform of supporting Roh's political and societal reforms and ending regional rivalry.
" The merger between us and the Democratic Party is a prelude to a grand alliance of middle-of-the-road reformist forces. We will achieve that grand integration within the two months," said Kang Bong-kyun, a leader of the Uri Party dissenters' group, called the Centrist Reformists United.
Roh himself was elected on the ticket of the New Millennium Democratic Party, the predecessor of the DP, whose political power base has been in the southwestern part of the country, as compared to the GNP's base in the southeast.
With the departures of the 16 lawmakers, the Uri Party is left with 91 seats in the 299-member unicameral parliament, but political pundits say dozens more lawmakers opposing Roh are expected to quit the Uri Party by the end of this month and that only 40-59 legislators loyal to the president will remain in the party.
According to recent polls, the two leading presidential candidates of the GNP together have 70 percent of the public's support. No other candidate has more than 10 percent.
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