By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Opposition parties will likely pick a joint candidate for an Assembly seat up for grabs in the April 9 elections.
Sim Sang-jeong, co-chairwoman of the New Progressive Party (NPP), Wednesday hailed the proposal to form an alliance by her rival Han Pyeong-sug of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP).
``I hail his suggestion to stop the governing Grand National Party from gaining a majority of seats and propelling the cross-country canal project,'' Sim said in a statement. ``I accept it to meet the demands of voters and civic groups.''
The canal project to link Seoul and Busan is President Lee Myung-bak's signature pledge presented during the presidential campaign.
A day earlier, Han competing with Sim in the Deokyang district, Gyeonggi Province, suggested selecting a joint candidate to defeat GNP candidate Sohn Bum-kyu.
The UDP runner added they should pick one based on a survey result by a polling agency which both agree to appoint.
They have yet to discuss details but Sim promised to do her utmost to make smooth progress in selection while referring to voices from voters and civic organizations.
If they pick one based on the poll results, Sim is likely to stand as a single candidate as most surveys found that she is outperforming Han.
According to a joint poll by the KBS and MBC Monday, Sim garnered 21.4 percent of support, while Han received only nine percent.
Once they field a joint candidate, the unified candidate is expected to have a neck-and-neck race against Sohn who received 33.1 percent in the poll. The two won a combined 30 percent
Sim's confidants, however, said Han may possibly get a ticket because he has the UDP holding much more parliamentary seats behind him.
The NPP split from the Democratic Labor Party has no seats, while the main opposition party holds 136 seats.
After they field a unified candidate, the two sides are expected to mainly cooperate on stopping the waterway project in order to collect more votes.
The construction plan, a main target of criticism from opposition parties, will also likely encourage other candidates to join the anti-GNP alliance.
Earlier, Chairman Moon Kook-hyun of the Creative Korea Party (CKP) suggested a strategic alliance, saying ``We will not nominate candidates for the Jongno or Dongjak districts, so I hope the UDP will not field a candidate for Eunpyeong.''
UDP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and former party Chairman Chung Dong-young threw their hats into the ring to run in Jongno and Dongjak, respectively, while Moon is outdoing GNP candidate Lee Jae-oh in Eunpyeong with a margin of about six percentage points in surveys.
The main opposition party has been tacitly supporting other minor parties by not fielding candidates in districts where they would draw support from them in competing against GNP runners.