Policy promises recycled in bid to win over voters

By Jun Ji-hye

With the June 4 local elections on the horizon, both the ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition Democratic Party (DP) are earnestly issuing policy proposals to win over voters.

However, when scrutinized, most of the pledges being made are nothing more than old promises in sweeter language, bringing to mind the old saying: “Money moves from pocket to pocket” paraphrased as, “Pledges move from party to party.”

DP Chairman Rep. Kim Han-gil recently proposed instituting a lawmaker recall system to enable voters to oust corrupt lawmakers and strip them of their seats.

Kim told a press conference that voters should be able to directly judge lawmakers on involvement in corruption and other failures to fulfill their constitutional duties.

While writing about Kim’s announcement, this reporter recalled writing an almost identical story in April last year.

At that time, the proposal came from the ruling party ahead of the April 24 by-elections.

The governing party, whose candidate was competing against then independent candidate Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo in Nowon, Northen Seoul, said it was seriously discussing the introduction of a recall system to reform the political environment.

It shouldn’t be surprising then that the ruling party’s reasoning for proposing the measure was very similar to Kim’s.

It is in fact an old idea touched upon by heavyweight politicians from both parties.

President Park Geun-hye adopted it in 2004 as one of her proposed measures for political reform while serving as chairwomen of the Grand National Party, the Saenuri Party’s predecessor.

In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, then DP’s candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in also considered including the proposal in his election pledges ― he eventually dropped it from the final version due to opposition from his aides.

The governing camp’s recent suggestion for an open primary system has similar origins.

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the ruling party, said Tuesday that his party will push for open primaries to be held to change the top-down, internal party nomination system used to select candidates to stand for mayors and councilors in local elections.

This proposal is an alternative to an initial campaign pledge to abolish altogether the practice of parties selecting candidates for those positions.

However, discussion on open primaries has existed for years with pessimistic views held about whether it is feasible to introduce them.

Ahead of the presidential poll in 2007, the Uri Party, now the DP, suggested introducing such a system for parties to select their presidential candidates. At the time, the Grand National Party, now the Saenuri Party, opposed it.

Further discussion on the subject took place before the 2012 presidential poll as well when Reps. Chung Mong-joon and Lee Jae-oh, and Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo demanded the introduction of the system, but their request was rejected due to opposition within the party.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, vice floor leader of the governing camp, said last month: “We are more positively considering instituting the measure than at that time.”