By Park Si-soo
Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) is set to openly support her party’s candidate for Seoul mayor during the upcoming campaign, ending her silence in previous elections that the GNP criticized.
Park’s possible participation in the official campaign, which will kick off Oct. 13, is expected to greatly assist candidate Na Kyung-won to become Seoul mayor, while laying a formidable hurdle for Park Won-soon, the unified challenger for the mayoralty from the opposition camp.
“The former GNP chairwoman will be given free rein to support Na in the way she sees fit, rather than being given a specific role (in the campaign),” said Kim Jung-kwon, secretary-general of the party, in an interview. “An ad-hoc committee for the campaign will be launched Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest, embracing all intraparty factions.”
The shift of the former chairwoman and current frontrunner among presidential hopefuls came after the GNP recently revamped its welfare policies to reflect those suggested by Park, in pursuit of her participation in the campaign for Na.
Park has made no comment as yet but one of her close aides hinted at an active role. “We have our own strategy. We will take action with it at the right time,” Rep. Lee Jung-hyun told The Korea Times, Monday.
GNP floor leader Rep. Hwang Woo-yea expressed a similar view in a radio interview last week. “I think there will be strong support (from Rep. Park Geun-hye) at an appropriate time.”
The GNP will select the head of the ad-hoc committee for the election from among multiple-term lawmakers.
The by-election slated for Oct. 26 is widely viewed as a test to gauge public sentiment ahead of the general and presidential elections in April and December next year.
Park’s long silence and deliberate distancing herself from party affairs has been a constant target of criticism by GNP members. Their frustration reached boiling point in August. She remained tight-lipped although then Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the GNP staked his seat in a referendum to strike down a free school meal program initiated by the opposition-dominated Seoul City Council.
Despite repeated calls for help from Oh’s supporters, Park distanced herself from the matter, simply saying, “Seoul citizens will make a wise decision.”
Oh’s defeat in the referendum ㅡ voter turnout failed to reach a quorum ㅡ cost him his mayoralty, giving opposition parties an unexpected chance to reshape the political landscape ahead of the two critical elections in 2012.
The GNP’s desperation to get help from its former chairwoman was shown in the sudden discarding of long-established policies on welfare. The party’s limited policies under President Lee Myung-bak, underwent major surgery only 40 days after the referendum defeat.
The new package, unveiled over the weekend, has common ground to a great extent with Park’s brand of welfare policies, called “tailored social services for each stage of life,” which is largely viewed as the backbone of any presidential campaign next year.
Earlier, Park made it clear that she would never help the GNP as long as its then welfare policies remained intact. Asked whether she will take part in the campaign for the mayoral election, Park said, “The more important thing for the GNP is reshaping its welfare policies.”