By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Former Chairman Kim Geun-tae of the pro-government Uri Party will host a meeting Wednesday for six possible presidential candidates from liberal groups, his aides said Monday.
The participants are expected to discuss ways for achieving a coalition of those groups and how to pick a single candidate to run in the Dec. 19 presidential election on the ticket of the pro-government camp.
However, some hopefuls who have been excluded from the meeting were critical saying that it was just aimed at maintaining the vested rights of certain presidential contenders.
The six attendees are former prime ministers Lee Hae-chan and Han Myeong-sook, former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, former Uri Chairman Chung Dong-young, and Reps. Kim Hyuk-kyu and Chun Jung-bae.
They will discuss the formation of a grand coalition of liberal groups and selecting a single candidate to defeat the standard-bearer of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), which is enjoying large popularity.
In the meeting, the presidential hopefuls will map out the open primary system which allows non-party members as well as members to vote for a candidate.
Once they agree to adopt the system, the pro-government camp including the Uri Party, the minor opposition Democratic Party (DP) and Uri deserters will convey their decision to the National Election Commission next month, party sources said.
Then, they will set up rules on the system, they said.
A pre-race in August will narrow down the candidate list and the liberal groups will select a presidential candidate on Oct. 9, the sources said.
Sources, however, said the process to pick a single candidate would likely face several hurdles such as resistance from excluded hopefuls.
Former Uri Chairman Shin Ki-nam who opened his presidential bid last Thursday denounced the plan, saying, ``The meeting, which is only for some contenders' vested rights, is breaking with the public's hope for a grand coalition.''
Additionally, it would be difficult for presidential hopefuls to agree on rules for the primary because they have a different base of support, the sources added.
To dismiss dissatisfaction of some lawmakers, Uri defectors plan to hold another meeting to which seven more presidential aspirants, including Shin and Rep. Rhee In-je of the DP will be invited.
The liberal groups are trying to merge their forces in the run-up to the presidential vote since they suffer from rock-bottom popularity.
So far, the DP and some Uri deserters have succeeded in creating an integrated party standing as the third largest negotiating group in the National Assembly with 34 seats, but the Uri Party and other Uri defectors have shown little progress in creating a merger.
In the 299-member unicameral legislature, the GNP holds 128 seats while the Uri Party has 73.