New party's popularity fizzles off

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, left, tries to shake hands with members of progressive civic groups who protested against his alleged attempt to exclude the spirit of May 18 uprising from platform of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy during his visit to the May 18 National Cemetery in Gwangju, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), coalition between the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, is suffering a steep fall in support, less than three weeks after they agreed to be allies.

According to the latest Global Research survey, the NPAD garnered support of 22.5 percent against the ruling Saenuri Party’s 44.1 percent. In another poll by Gallup Korea, the new party, which will be officially launched on March 26, received 30 percent support.

This is a steep fall from early this month when the coalition rapidly narrowed the gap with the governing camp, securing 42.1 percent in a poll conducted by Research View.

The coalition announced its official English title Thursday.

The fall reflects ideological disputes surfacing in the process of integration between the two camps, analysts said.

“DP members have shown factional disputes in the course of working on integration with the Ahn side. This kept its approval ratings from staying at high levels,” said Yoon Hee-woong, Min Consulting’s head of public opinion research.

The factional conflict has intensified after Ahn ignited controversy over his alleged demand for the exclusion of the “June 15 South-North Joint Declaration and October 4 Joint Declaration” from the coalition’s platform.

The demand was an apparent attempt to gain support from conservative and middle-of-the-road voters. But it caused a fierce protest from progressive members of the DP, who believe in successive engagement policies with North Korea.

Ahn, who has taken a more conservative stance toward inter-Korean and national security issues, later said his camp never made such a demand.

However, the controversy sparked anger from followers of the late liberal Presidents Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-hyun within the main opposition party. The two ex-heads of state signed the declarations during their respective inter-Korean summits with late Northern leader Kim Jong-il.

Ahn Hee-jung, South Chungcheong Province governor and the late Roh’s right-hand man, said, “The successive achievements during the 10 years of liberal governments (under the late Kim and Roh) will help the new coalition.”

Rep. Moon Jae-in, a former DP presidential candidate who served as chief of staff under Roh, also argued the previous day that the coalition should honor the two declarations.

To remove conflict, Ahn stressed that the coalition has a firm willingness to actively push for reconciliation between the South and North.

The new party, however, is facing another controversy after it signaled that it could reverse its earlier decision to end the practice of party headquarters nominating candidates for lower-level municipal mayors and councilors in the June 4 local elections.

DP Chairman Kim Han-gil and Rep. Ahn had agreed to merge on the basis of their agreement to scrap the party nominations.

But some senior members of the DP recently raised skepticism over the decision, stating that abolition of the system would not help the party win in the elections.

Rep. Park Jie-won, a noted follower of late President Kim, said: “We have to win to achieve new politics.”

When asked whether they plan to review the leaders’ decision, members of the Ahn camp made similar indications, saying, “We are open to any agenda.”

The ruling party attacked the move, issuing a statement saying: “The coalition is making fun of the public.”