Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Yoon, Ahn disagree on how to field unified candidate
Ahn Cheol-soo, left, and Yoon Suk-yeol / Korea Times photo
By Kang Seung-woo
PPP seeks Ahn's concession for Yoon's single candidacy; Ahn sticks to poll-based primary
By Kang Seung-woo
The opposition bloc still remained far apart on how to field a unified presidential candidate, Monday, a day after People's Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo made a dramatic offer to field a single contender.
While proposing a unified candidacy to Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Sunday, Ahn floated the idea of selecting a candidate based on public opinion polls. The PPP, which initially welcomed the offer with open arms, however, came to think twice as it has a different view about the format of deciding a candidate based on surveys.
Ahn's offer to select a candidate is similar to one that was used to determine the opposition standard-bearer during last April's Seoul mayoral by-election between Ahn and Oh Se-hoon.
In a tight race, a unified candidacy is regarded as a key to winning the March 9 presidential election for the opposition bloc as every public survey has shown a unified candidate between Yoon or Ahn can beat Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) by a wide margin.
The PPP put pressure on Ahn to make further concessions with a bold decision in favor of Yoon, saying that the proposed method could be exploited by the DPK.
“We cannot but express concerns over the proposed method because its result would not fully reflect the public's opinion toward a change of government,” Rep. Kwon Young-se, Yoon's campaign chief, said during a party meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul.
Yoon's side claims that a unified candidate should not be elected through opinion polls because such a system could produce distorted results.
“In addition, possible wasteful debates over a unified candidacy would be what the DPK and Lee want and it is unpredictable what kind of maneuvers and tricks they will employ during the process,” Kwon noted.
“At this point, where there should be a courageous?decision, we are begging Ahn to figure out an infallible measure for regime change.”
Yoon has also maintained a stance that fielding a single opposition candidate can be finalized after he and Ahn have a closed door showdown rather than a poll-based primary.
Amid expectations, the two parties may launch negotiations under the table, while Kwon said there is no move to form a negotiation team within the PPP.
In response to the PPP's rejection, the People's Party was determined not to make an additional proposal, urging Yoon's side to accept the proposed popular referendum.
“Yoon himself should make clear his position on the proposal and we will figure out his level of interest in a unified candidacy,” Rep. Lee Tae-kyu, head of Ahn's election committee, told reporters at the Assembly.
“Unless there is a message from Yoon within two or three days, we will be under the impression that he does not care about the plan.”
Lee also said Yoon, not Ahn, would benefit from the opinion polls.
“In general, public surveys show that Ahn is more competitive than Yoon as a unified candidate against Lee in the hypothetical scenario of an opposition merger as he is prone to expand the support base (to moderate voters),” he said.
“Should an 'adverse election' occur, Yoon would be a beneficiary.”
According to a poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute for TBS, conducted on 1,005 adults, Friday and Saturday, Yoon led Lee 43.5 percent to 40.3 percent. Ahn's support rate stood at 7.8 percent.
Meanwhile, official campaigning begins its 22-day run, Tuesday, according to the National Election Commission.
The results of public polls cannot be published beginning March 3, six days before the election.
Advance voting will take place on March 4 and 5, while overseas Korean citizens who are registered as absentee voters will cast their votes from Feb. 23 to 28.