Election fever is being felt in many constituencies around the country with only six days left before the April 9 polling day for National Assembly seats. But voters are increasingly disappointed at the news about vote buying, mudslinging and other illegal electioneering cases. It is really regrettable that some candidates still try to buy votes, dealing a setback to national efforts to ensure fair and clean elections.
It is nonsense that candidates, if any, believe they can win the race with the power of dirty money. Suppose candidates were elected after offering cash to voters. How can they make up for the spent money after the election? It is easy to imagine what would happen. There is little doubt that they would extort money from businessmen or other interested parties in the name of political donations.
Such extortion will inevitably put pressure on businessmen to raise the prices of their products, thereby passing the burden on to consumers. In the end, none other than the voters will have to pay the price of vote buying. How can we expect legislators, if elected without abiding by the law, to represent the people in their constituencies and work for them? In the past, many lawmakers have been convicted of influence peddling, bribery and other corruption charges.
Vote buying is not only crime but also an act of breeding corruption and impeding political reform. We cannot achieve democracy without clean and fair elections. It is a shame that South Korea, the world's 11th-largest economy, is still mired in vote buying and other illegal campaign practices.
On March 25, the National Election Commission requested police to investigate a vote buying case involving Kim Taek-gi, 56, a candidate running in a Gangwon Province district on the ticket of the governing Grand National Party (GNP). The commission alleged that Kim, a former lawmaker, was caught handing over 41 million won in cash to his campaigners in a vote-buying scheme. He immediately withdrew his candidacy.
Another candidate was also investigated in a similar case. Kim Il-yoon, 69, of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, faces charges of providing 5.3 million won to his campaigners for vote buying. Kim was running on the ticket of the ``Pro-Park Geun-hye Alliance,'' a group of GNP deserters. The alliance forced the candidate out of the race. The two ill-fated candidates must have orchestrated the illegal schemes apparently out of the money-can-do-everything mentality. Critics said the two cases are only the tip of the iceberg.
In addition to vote buying, the parliamentary elections are being marred by mudslinging, smear campaigns and other unfair campaigning activities. It is disappointing that candidates do not actively engage in making policy proposals instead of pointing fingers at their rivals. We have to keep in mind that dirty electioneering will make voters abhor politics, deepening their political indifference and derailing political reform.