By Jun Ji-hye
The New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), the coalition of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo’s camp, was officially launched Wednesday with 130 parliamentary seats against the ruling Saenuri Party’s 156.
The launch came three weeks after DP Chairman Kim Han-gil and Rep. Ahn announced their decision to join forces.
At an inauguration ceremony at Olympic Park in southern Seoul, which drew about 5,000 participants from around the country, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, Kim and Ahn were appointed as co-chairmen of the new party.
“The NPAD refuses to be compared with existing old political forces,” said Ahn in his acceptance speech, receiving loud applause from the participants a number of times. “The coalition should become a hope to the people who are anxious about the darkness of the society.”
The first-term lawmaker stressed that the coalition will sincerely focus on improving people’s living conditions as well as setting up firm national security policies in what is seen as an attempt to expand the opposition’s support base with conservative and middle-of-the-road voters.
“I suggest President Park Geun-hye talk to the opposition, rather than pressuring it. We are not the enemy of the government,” said Ahn. “The opposition camps have achieved two inter-Korean summits while in power. She should discuss North Korean issues with us.”
For his part, Rep. Kim said: “The 60-year-old history of the DP and Ahn’s new politics met and were born again as the NPAD today. We will create a society where democracy, people, peace and new politics can always win.”
At a press briefing, Kim said that the same number of members from the each side will form the coalition’s leadership post.
“I will select DP’s existing Supreme Council members. Ahn will choose his aides separately,” said Kim.
The leadership post of the NPAD will hold their first meeting today.
The merger makes the June 4 local elections two-way races between the ruling party and the opposition’s coalition. In the July by-elections, where almost 10 parliamentary seats are expected to be contested, the coalition also may confront the governing side in two-way races.
In its platform that was set up the previous day, the NPAD notably selected “prosperity,” a key agenda for the conservative camp, as one of the four values it will push, adding that it will seek innovative economic growth.
For its other values ― justice, unity and peace ― the coalition suggested that it will work on establishing a firm cooperative relationship with the United States and seek a future-oriented national security policy that will also help improve the human rights of the North Korean people.
However, the two camps still seem to have a lot to do to achieve harmonious integration, given that some senior members of the DP, including its former presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, recently expressed their skepticism over the coalition’s decision to end the practice of parties nominating candidates in the lower-level municipal and provincial council elections in the local polls.
Kim and Ahn’s agreement on scraping the party nomination system was a key motivation for their agreement to merge. The two believed that the abolition is a political reform measure, and it can give emphasis to the coalition’s main theme of new politics.
But Moon said on Tuesday: “If the opposition alone does not nominate candidates, while the governing camp does so, election results will be favorable only for the Saenuri Party.”
Moon, a leader of supporters of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, indicated that the two leaders’ decision should be reviewed, igniting controversy within the coalition.
The controversy is expected to add fuel to a factional dispute between Roh supporters and others amid the former already expressing concerns over its possible exclusion from the coalition’s leadership posts.
Other potential hardships facing the coalition would be how the DP and Ahn sides, which have a vast difference in the number of legislators (126 to 2), will nominate candidates for mayor and governor positions as members from each side are already engaged in psychological warfare.
For example, Kim Sang-gon, former superintendent of the Gyeonggi Province, who is running in the Gyeonggi mayoral election, is competing with Reps. Kim Jin-pyo and Won Hye-young of the DP to be the coalition’s final candidate. Kim Sang-gon is regarded as an Ahn’s supporter.
Meanwhile, independent lawmakers Park Joo-sun and Kang Dong-won recently said they are willing to join the NPAD, completing 130 parliamentary seats of the coalition.