By Chung Min-uck
Questions are lingering over whether the conservative camp can come up with a unified candidate like the liberals.
Rep. Na Kyung-won of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and Lee Seog-yeon, representing the civil society on the conservative side, currently differ over how a single candidate for the Oct. 26 mayoral by-election should be chosen.
Na had previously said, “Party politics are the basics, and that root shouldn’t be shifted.”
In response, Lee said, “Since a political party’s creation and extinction is based on the support of the citizens, it is obvious for a new political power to emerge when the existing party’s mission has been completed.”
The GNP and the rightist civil society both understand the importance of a unified front to face the liberal side led by Park Won-soon who is topping most opinion polls. Yet, they are in conflict over who would take the initiative ahead of the by-election and in the longer term the general and presidential elections next year.
At the moment the GNP is excluding any chances of holding additional elections for the conservative camp besides its own party’s. Rep. Kim Jeong-kweon, the party’s secretary general and in charge of the nomination process for any election, had clarified that “the election is only for those personnel who join the GNP.” “I will follow the rules made by the party committee of nominations and evaluations,” Na said Sunday.
On the other hand, Lee had solidified his position to participate in the unified conservative election only outside the ruling party, meaning he is not willing to join the GNP.
In turn, it remains to be seen how the GNP will decide on its nomination method and process which is to be revealed this week. According to a GNP official, the committee members have already decided to advance the date of selecting its final candidate to this week through a public survey, to save time to negotiate with Lee on forming a unified front. The party election was originally planned on Oct. 4, three days before the official candidate registration deadline.
Na and Park also have different stances on pending issues.
On the controversial free school meal issue, Na is opposed to the opposition-led lunch program for all students, while Park supports it. Concerning former Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon’s policy, Na agreed to the need for some modifications but claimed that it is not something that needs to be corrected entirely as the opposition party claims. In contrast, Park concluded that Oh’s policies had more negatives than positives and that it needs drastic change.
Meanwhile, Oh was accused of implementing policies focusing too much on developing Seoul’s hard-ware represented by the “Han River Renaissance Project,” which includes the construction of a floating island on the Han River which was funded through private capital of 96.4 billion won.
Oh stepped down from the mayoral post in August after he failed to stop the opposition-led free school lunch program.