The public is increasingly disappointed at political parties’ candidate selection process ahead of the April parliamentary elections. The reason is that it is hard to find young, fresh faces among candidates named so far. This will make it far more difficult for voters to decide on whom to vote for.
In January, the ruling Saenuri Party under its interim leader Rep. Park Geun-hye vowed to push reform to select better qualified candidates. It even pledged to replace a quarter of its lawmakers with new faces in a desperate bid to woo voters who have turned their back on the party hit by factional strife, corruption and incompetence.
The opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) also committed to similar reform to win the elections and increase its odds for the December presidential poll. It has promised to adopt innovative methods to allow more people participate in the candidate selection and reflect opinions from the broader spectrum of society.
Both the Saenuri and the DUP have proposed to introduce an open primary system to allow unaffiliated voters to play a bigger role in choosing candidates. These measures have led many people to have expectations, if not high, about changes in the outdated election process and party politics.
Now, voters cannot but feel deceived again by precocious legislators and politicians. Saenuri and the DUP are using candidate selection as a tool to purge political rivals rather than bring new blood to each party and the National Assembly. It is deplorable to see the process hampered by faction struggles and political reprisals.
On Monday, the majority party disclosed its second slate of 81 candidates with 30 incumbent lawmakers having been discarded. The selection was seen as Rep. Park’s gambit to strengthen her faction by kicking out lawmakers loyal to President Lee Myung-bak. She may win the factional infighting. But she runs the risk of losing public support and dealing a setback to her party in the elections.
The opposition party is no different. DUP Chairwoman Han Myeong-sook is also trying to pick more followers of the late President Roh Moo-hyun as candidates to run for National Assembly seats. The DUP has blocked six present lawmakers from seeking re-election in its strong power base, the Jeolla provinces. Roh loyalists filled most of the vacancies.
Such a candidate-selection process is far from reform. It lacks fairness and objectivity. Party leaders and candidate screening committee members are disregarding their own strict standards to pick better qualified and respected figures. They should first give up their vested interests and overcome their narrow-mined cronyism and factionalism.
Only five weeks are left before the elections. All the parties should realize that a facelift rather than reform cannot bring any meaningful change to politics. If they fail to produce successful results in selection reform, there will be no winners in the polls.