The two main opposition presidential candidates met Tuesday to begin talks on picking a single candidate for the Dec. 19 election. They concurred on the need for a unified candidate to achieve a change in government.
In an apparent effort to counter this move, Park Geun-hye, the ruling party’s contender, unveiled a package of high-powered political reform measures.
The first-ever meeting between Moon Jae-in, the main opposition Democratic United Party’s candidate, and independent runner Ahn Cheol-soo is welcome, considering that it will, to some extent, help to level the playing field in this election.
The single candidacy move had been widely expected because if the two opposition candidates stand separately, they will split the liberal vote enabling Park to win in a three-way race.
Although Moon and Ahn began their talks on the candidacy merger, the most important factor in this election, the process won’t be easy because the opposing camps are expected to be caught up in a tug-of-war over the method of selecting a single candidate.
Voters’ views on the move to unify the candidate are poles apart, depending on whether they are conservative or liberal.
Conservatives dismiss the move as a collusion based on political engineering, blindly aimed at retaking power from the governing party. A spokesman for the ruling Saenuri Party said the candidacy merger is a far cry from the ``new politics’’ avowed by Ahn, the software mogul-turned-politician, when he announced his presidential bid in September.
The liberal side is all in for a single candidacy, arguing that it’s the surest way of achieving a change in government after five years of conservative rule it said was full of corruption, incompetence and confusion.
True, the candidacy merger has always been a hot topic in Korean politics since dictatorial rule came to an end in the late 1980s, except in 2007, when the incumbent President Lee Myung-bak won an easy victory over Chung Dong-young, the standard-bearer of the then main opposition party.
This is an unprecedented phenomenon rarely seen in other countries and has caused confusion among voters in the lead up to the election. In particular, choosing a single candidate through nationwide polls seems problematic. Could we acknowledge the result of the polls if it is within a margin of error?
Therefore, Moon, the human rights lawyer-turned-politician, and Ahn must reach a conclusion on the single candidacy as soon as possible and the unified candidate needs to compete in good faith against the ruling party candidate so that voters can compare their policies, platforms and individual capabilities precisely. It would be impolite if they delay the unification process to heighten its dramatic effect.
They also need to suggest a blueprint on how they will steer the nation after taking power in their agreement on single candidacy ― for example, in what method and under what principles the Cabinet will be formed.
Last but not least, the two liberal candidates must be sincere and humble during their talks so that they won’t disappoint voters.