Two Liberal Parties Agree to Merge
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Two liberal parties have agreed to merge in a bid to prevent the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) from sweeping the National Assembly elections slated for April 9.
The GNP's popularity has surpassed 50 percent since its candidate Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory in December's presidential election, while the liberal, pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) reached only 13.3 percent, according to a poll conducted by local broadcaster MBC last week.
Under the agreement, the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) and the minor opposition Democratic Party (DP) will rejoin four years and five months after they split. The coalition is tentatively named the United Democratic Party.
``The GNP will likely dominate the National Assembly as well as Cheong Wa Dae, which threatens democracy here. To protect isolated people and achieve economic growth, we decided to merge,'' said a statement jointly issued by the heads of the two parties at the Assembly Monday.
The parties also agreed to create a committee to select candidates to run in the April elections with outside experts participating, while setting the party line as middle-of-the-road.
The two sides had difficulties reaching an agreement because they differed over the leadership of the to-be-merged party.
While DP Chairman Park Sang-cheon called for a collective leadership system, his UNDP counterpart Sohn Hak-kyu insisted that only one leader should have authority on decision-making for the sake of unity.
After three rounds of negotiations, the two sides agreed that both Sohn and Park will lead the integrated party but only Sohn will have the legal right to sign on final nominations for the Assembly elections.
The two parties also decided to choose candidates in a balanced and fair manner.
The agreement came amid escalating speculation over a GNP sweep of the vote in the elections.
The two sides expect the merger to guarantee Assembly seats in their Jeolla stronghold at least, political sources said.
Despite the agreement on a merger, the two parties still have several problems lurking due to the big numerical difference in Assembly seats between them. While the UNDP holds 135 seats in the 299-member legislature, the DP has only six.
President Roh Moo-hyun and his followers left the now-defunct New Millennium Democratic Party after winning the presidential election in 2002, and created the Uri Party, the predecessor of the UNDP, a year later.