By Kang Hyun-kyung
The ruling Saenuri Party decided Monday to hold a national convention on Aug. 20, a day after its delegates cast their votes to pick its presidential candidate.
However, senior members of the party failed to reach a consensus on the primary rules during a Supreme Council meeting, said Rep. Kim Young-woo, a Saenuri Party spokesman.
They only agreed to leave room for negotiations with three minor candidates who have called for an open primary, saying the sides would make efforts to narrow their differences by July 9.
The announcement, however, didn’t stop protests from Reps. Chung Mong-joon and Lee Jae-oh, and Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo.
They showed no signs of withdrawing their position of boycotting the primary, calling the measures “lies and cheating.”
The three argued the contest will be no more than a ritual held to endorse Park as the Saenuri Party’s official presidential candidate.
Members of the Supreme Council had an unusually long discussion before the announcement as they resumed their meeting in the afternoon after failing to reach an agreement in a morning session.
The closed-door meeting was said to have been bitter. Rep. Shim Jae-chul, who represented the minor candidates, revealed sharp differences over the primary rules and the timing of the contest with other members of the council, supporters of Rep. Park Geun-hye. Park, the former Saenuri Party interim leader, is the unrivalled presidential hopeful in the party.
Shim insisted the ruling party reschedule the primary about a month after the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.
He also demanded that the party allow the general public, not party members, to have a greater say in the primary by allotting more citizen delegates.
As few other council members backed his suggestions, he left the room in the middle of the meeting.
There had been a pros and cons debate from over the timing of the crucial event as the weeks-long competition coincides with the London Olympic Games.
Some senior members of the ruling party called for rescheduling the primary sometime after the Games.
Proponents said the Olympic Games will overshadow the competition and as a result it would inevitably lose steam. Meanwhile, opponents dismissed the call, arguing some candidates want to postpone the competition to buy time to build up their support base.
Amid a fierce debate over the timing, Park Geun-hye was quoted as saying to an aide that the primary is as equally significant as the London Olympics. Her remarks were construed as meaning that she had no intention to back any plan to reset the primary date sometime after the Games.
The vast majority of the Supreme Council members are Park confidants and her clear-cut endorsement of the current primary rules appears to have affected their decision not to delay the primary.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr