Troubled New Party to Resume Race Today
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The United New Democratic Party (UNDP) is undergoing the crippled nomination race as only one contender, frontrunner Chung Dong-young, participated in its joint rally in Daegu, Monday.
His two rivals, former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu and former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, did not show up in the rally, criticizing party leaders for their inability to manage a fair contest.
The growing feud might lead to a divide of the party _ one led by Chung, 54, former unification minister, and the other consisting of Lee, 55, and other supporters of President Roh Moo-hyun.
Although the party is scheduled to hold another joint rally on Wednesday, it remains unclear whether or not Sohn, 60, will rejoin the remaining schedule as well.
Lee, who is reportedly backed by Roh, dismissed the rumor that he may drop out of the nomination race, saying he will join the in-house contest and accept the outcome of the competition even though Chung wins the race.
Lee and Chung were friends when they were studying at Seoul National University in the early 1970s, but they are now on bad terms because of the competition.
Sohn and Lee have accused Chung, as well as party leaders, of election fraud and connivance.
They demanded the postponing of the remaining primary elections, while urging party leaders to probe Chung's alleged illegal mobilization of voters.
The party decided to hold a one-off balloting on Oct. 14, merging the remaining four rounds of voting into one.
However, Sohn and Lee who lagged far behind Chung in the previous voting, demanded further delay of the scheduled elections as one of Chung's campaign workers was accused of having been involved in a phony registration of President Roh with the electoral college.
On Saturday, the police attempted to raid Chung's office in Seoul to secure evidence on Chung's alleged involvement in the allegation.
Sohn and Lee claimed that the party needs more time to filter unqualified members of the electoral college whom the Chung camp might have illegally registered with the electoral college.
Party Chairman O Chung-il said he will manage the nomination race on schedule even though some contenders are refusing to participate.
The party, which was created on Aug. 5 by deserters from the now-disbanded pro-government Uri Party and some from the minor opposition Democratic Party, will announce its presidential nominee on Oct. 15.
President Roh established the Uri Party with his followers after winning the 2002 presidential election on the ticket of the now-defunct Millennium Democratic Party.
So far, Chung, a former MBC TV anchorman, leads the nomination race garnering 44.48 percent of the total eligible votes, followed by Lee with 28.36 percent and Sohn with 27.16 percent.