Bareun Party woos conservative heartlands
.jpg?w=728)
Bareun Party Chairwoman Rep. Lee Hye-hoon, center, along with fellow lawmakers and party members, salute the national flag at the National Assembly, Wednesday, during a launch ceremony for the party’s special committee on improving people’s livelihoods. / Yonhap
By Kim Hyo-jin
The minor conservative opposition Bareun Party launched a massive door-to-door drive in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday, to woo the conservative heartlands away from the bigger conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP).
Party members described the campaign as a “do-or-die” battle with the LKP, which they claim is controlled by “far-rightists.”
The Bareun Party’s senior lawmakers and the party’s former presidential candidate Yoo Seong-min visited the region Wednesday and started meeting citizens. They will have face-to-face meetings with the voters for two days.
It was the first regional tour of the party leaders since the party launched an official campaign to expand its support base, dubbed “Looking for the Real Owners of Bareun Party.”
The southeastern region, the traditional conservative home ground, is the main target for the breakaway conservative party to gain momentum for local elections next year.
It has the priority task to disperse voters’ doubts on the nascent party and clean up an image of “betrayers” against disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye.
Party Chairwoman Lee Hye-hoon and other party leaders visited the Korean Senior Citizens Association and the Veterans hall and also canvassed in downtown Daegu, handing out leaflets and encouraging citizens to apply for party membership.
Lee, who won the leadership in late June, has stressed that they need close contact with Daegu and Gyeongsang citizens to shift their negative perspective on the party.
“Off-line, one-to-one meetings are key to winning them over. I will visit where people gather casually, such as community centers, hairdressers, and real estate agents, with fellow lawmakers and talk them into standing by our side,” she told The Korea Times.
The young conservative party has recently stepped up clarifying its identity in a bid to solicit old LKP supporters’ backing.
Joo Ho-young, the party’s floor leader, openly criticized the Korea Post, the state postal service, for having cancelled a plan to issue stamps commemorating President Park Chung-hee, the assassinated father of the ousted Park.
“Though his performances have been controversial, the people generally agree that he contributed to the country’s industrialization. It is worth issuing stamps to commemorate the birth of the past leader,” he said.
Public surveys on citizens of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province reflect that they are still on the fence between the main opposition LKP and its breakaway, the Bareun Party.
In Korea Gallup polls for the past four weeks, support rates for the LKP went from 24 percent to 10 percent, 21 percent, and 17 percent. The Bareun Party’s shifted from 8 percent to 18 percent, 17 percent, and remained at 17 percent in the latest poll.
A lawmaker whose constituency is in the Gyeongsang region said, “It seems people there feel a bit lost between the two parties: the LKP they backed in the May presidential election but failed, and the Bareun Party that they find bothersome because of the fact they betrayed the former leader.”