Future of main opposition party looks dim after 'crushing defeat' in election
Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, center, floor leader of the main opposition United Future Party, speaks during a ceremony to disband the party's election campaign committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday, two days after the April 15 general election. While the UFP suffered a “crushing” defeat against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, most of the current party leaders, including Shim and former party Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, also failed to win seats. Hwang resigned from the party post on Wednesday. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
The future of the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) looks dim after it suffered a “crushing defeat” in the April 15 general election to form the 21st National Assembly.
Although the party intends to analyze the cause of the defeat and taking reform measures, the tasks are mounting due to the current leadership vacuum, and internal disputes are rising over who should take responsibility for the election results and who should take over party leadership.
Through the first-past-the-post vote in 253 constituencies, the UFP won 84 seats, while the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) won nearly double that number, taking 163 seats. In the proportional representation vote for the remaining 47 seats, the UFP's satellite Future Korea Party (FKP) garnered 19 seats, followed by the DPK's satellite party Civil Together which won 17.
With a total of 103 seats, the main opposition bloc has barely secured the 101-seat threshold it needs to challenge any potential changes to the Constitution, as such changes require a two-third majority to pass. Though the party is able to pose a challenge, the number of seats is far behind the ruling bloc's 180 seats, three-fifths of the 300 allotted to National Assembly members.
What the main opposition needs to do is reflect on the cause of its failure and reform the party accordingly. But the party has no one to take the helm, as many of its party leaders, including its former Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, failed to win seats in the next National Assembly. Hwang, who made a bid for Seoul's Jongno constituency, lost to Lee Nak-yon, former prime minster for President Moon Jae-in.
Taking responsibility for the UFP's defeat against the DPK, Hwang resigned from the party post.
“I feel sorry to the people for failing to stop the nation from going wrong at a critical moment … The party failed to give confidence to the people and it is my fault as the party chairman. I take full responsibility and am resigning from the post,” Hwang said in a press conference at the National Assembly Library in Seoul, late Wednesday night after the election results came out. He said the UFP was established by uniting conservative forces, but the unification came too late to produce a truly unified power. He also urged people to prevent the Moon administration from driving the country in the wrong direction.
But Hwang's remarks drew criticism from within and outside the party for not reflecting the “real reasons” behind the party's defeat. Political watchers said the UFP failed to inspire the people as a “reliable alternative force” to hold the ruling bloc in check while giving the impression that its only focus was on criticizing the government.
The UFP offered vocal judgment of the “failure” of the liberal Moon government's income-led growth policy during its election campaign and also criticized the administration's diplomacy and security policies for being “pro-Chinese and pro-North Korean,” but the conservative party received criticism for failing to present alternative policies.
Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician, criticized the UFP following his three-week experience at the party as a co-head of its election campaign committee, saying the UFP is not thinking of making changes in its policies but only criticizing the ruling party.
“Times have changed and ideologies like conservatism and liberalism do not work anymore. Political parties need to present alternatives for the people but the UFP only repeated 'conservatism and conservatism' without any concrete content,” Kim said. He said the party would need a new leader who was “born in the late 1970s and with qualities to lead innovation.”
However, senior UFP members are considering having Kim, 80, take the party's emergency committee chief position to “straighten out” the main opposition bloc. He is known for his political career as a “kingmaker” ― he helped the then-ruling conservative Saenuri Party, a predecessor to the UFP, win a majority in the 2012 general election, and also helped the then-main opposition DPK win a majority in the 2016 general election. Both of the victories led to the winning parties producing presidents, Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in.
Even after the emergency committee is set up, with or without Kim, the UFP is likely to undergo more trouble over how to choose the next party leader. Former party leader Hong Joon-pyo, who won in Daegu's Suseong-B constituency as an independent candidate after failing to get the UFP nomination, is expected to return to the main opposition party, but the party members remain split over his attempt to return.