Saenuri, opposition launch bids for by-elections
By Jun Ji-hye
Huh Joon-young, right, a candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party to run in an April 24 by-election in Seoul’s Nowon district, greets residents during his visit to Sanggye-dong, Wednesday. The district is where former independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo also intends to make a bid. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) have launched bids for the April 24 by-elections.
The ruling party’s nomination committee decided on three candidates to run for the parliamentary seats Tuesday. If all pass a vote by the party’s supreme council Thursday, they will become the party’s official candidates.
If approved, Huh Joon-young, a former CEO of the Korea Railroad (Korail), will run in the district of Nowon, Seoul, where former independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo intends to contest the National Assembly seat.
Saenuri chose Kim Moo-sung, former chief of President Park Geun-hye’s presidential election campaign office, for the Yeongdo district in Busan, and Lee Wan-koo, former governor of South Chungcheong Province, for the Buyeo-Cheongyang constituency of the province, said Rep. Kim Do-eup, a member of the committee.
The DUP already decided not to field a candidate in Nowon to make a concession to Ahn and combine opposition forces in the region.
The leading opposition party previously nominated Kim Bi-oh, head of the Busan regional committee, for the Yeongdo constituency. The party is now considering its
candidate for the Buyeo-Cheongyang seat.
Candidates can officially start campaigning from April 10.
Given that it is the first election since President Park took office, the ruling and the opposition parties are expected to engage in a fierce political battle.
“April 10 will mark the 50th day since Park’s inauguration. We want voters to judge her in the election,” said Rep. Min Byung-doo of the DUP, who oversees the party’s publicity strategies.
Discussions of how to improve the political climate have already begun, ahead of the by-elections.
The ruling party’s Secretary General Seo Byung-soo, who chairs the nomination committee, demanded the DUP join a move to abolish headquarters’ nominations of candidates for local government elections.
Such a measure was a presidential election pledge for both parties. At the time, they said it would decentralize the headquarters’ power as their authority to nominate candidates to head local governments has long been blamed for corruption.
“The DUP has not displayed its vision following its failure in the presidential election. It needs to show the public its will to fulfill its promise,” Seo said at a party meeting Wednesday.
For its part, the DUP early this month proposed a bill reducing lawmakers’ annual allowances by 30 percent and abolishing the controversial lawmaker pension system to eliminate lawmakers’ privileges.