Let’s Go to Polls

Voters Must Make Wise Decision to Elect New Leader

Today some 36.8 million voters are supposed to go to 13,178 polling stations across the country to choose the next head of state, who will lead the nation for five years to come. The election will serve as a watershed to open a new era in the nation's politics beyond the hitherto confrontation between the ``industrial forces and democratic forces'' that have lasted for about 20 years since 1987. The liberal democratic forces grabbed power in 1997, 50 years after the nation was founded and are now challenged by the conservative industrial forces 10 years on.

Despite the significance, voters have largely been disappointed by the prevalent negative campaigns surrounding the so-called BBK financial scandal. There has scarcely been sound competition on platforms regarding future visions for national development. But they are advised not to give up on their precious voting rights. The National Election Commission chairman Koh Hyun-chul called on the people Tuesday to go to the polling stations. ``Tomorrow is the day of the people who are the owners of the country. So let's go to the poll booths with a positive frame of mind,'' he said.

While expressing concern over the possible low turnout rate, Koh emphasized the need to take part in the ``most important'' event, which elects the national leader who will lead the country for the coming five years. Elections are the essence of democracy. Any democratic society can only exist based on the major trend formed through the power of voting. So we urge people to actively take part in the poll. Should they have no best candidate to choose, they are urged to vote for the second best one.

In retrospect, the campaigns in the lead up to the presidential election have been tarnished with excessively negative claims and political maneuvering. The stumping has been swayed by attacks and counterattacks involving the financial scam. With Lee Myung-bak of the opposition Grand National Party's having led the race from the start by a comfortable margin, other candidates have only been hectically launching salvos at him.

There has been growing anxiety over the confusion in the wake of the presidential poll with parties determined to continue political wrangling over the envisioned special counsel's investigation on allegations of Lee Myung-bak's involvement in the BBK scandal. They will likely step up offensives against Lee mindful of the National Assembly election in April. Due to the Assembly passage of the special prosecutor bill on Monday, it is likely that the president-elect will be investigated, if Lee is elected president.

Voters have hardly been able to compare candidates with even the TV debates turning into a political combat over the financial rigging case. Additionally, the National Assembly has become a battlefield amid fierce physical confrontation of lawmakers from rival parties on the independent counsel bill. All this should push voters to feel obliged to vote for the most appropriate candidate. They need to cast votes without sticking to any sort of nepotism, and free from regional, blood and academic relations. Democracy grows boosted by proactive and brisk participation.