With election 30 days away, parties still mired in internal feud over nomination
Officials of the National Election Committee test ballot paper sorting machines at the committee's branch in Seoul's Jongno-gu, Monday, 30 days ahead of the April 15 general election. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Jung Da-min
The April 15 general election is only a month away, but most political parties are far from prepared for the quadrennial event, with many facing internal feuds and struggling to finalize candidate selections.
The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) leader Hwang Kyo-ahn said Monday that he will lead the party's election strategy committee, making the announcement after the party leadership failed to scout a powerful political figure for the committee chief position. The UFP reached out to Kim Chong-in, former interim chief of then-main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) who led the DPK's victory in the 2016 general election, despite divisions among the UFP leadership over whether to invite him to join. The UFP was ultimately unsuccessful.
“I will raise the flag of the party's election strategy committee to revive the country's economy and other sectors,” Hwang said, calling for the party's central headquarters and municipal branches to operate under an “emergency system.”
Kim issued a statement on the same day, saying there will be no more discussions between him and Hwang over his joining the UFP as the head of its election strategy committee.
Aside from controversies surrounding the failed plan to scout Kim, the main opposition party is undergoing other internal feuds as some unsuccessful candidate hopefuls have declared bids to run as independent candidates after being rejected by the party's candidate selection panel. Among such members is former party leader Hong Joon-pyo, who declared his bid in Daegu.
The ruling DPK is also struggling to solve the discord over its recent decision to form a progressive “big tent” by participating in a liberal coalition of civic organizations and minor liberal parties to create a separate party that will also run for the proportional representation seats.
During a press conference at the National Assembly, Sunday, DPK general secretary Rep. Yun Ho-jung said minor parties outside the National Assembly ― such as the Future Party and Green Party Korea ― could join the coalition, adding that the list of those participating in the move should be finalized by Wednesday.
However, the civic group that initiated the coalition move, the Coalition for Political Reform (CPR), condemned the ruling party for arbitrarily setting guidelines in forming the coalition without consulting the group. An official with the CPR told The Korea Times Monday that the group's primary goal is still inviting as many parties as possible to the coalition movement.