Liberal camp struggles to make headway to pick single presidential candidate

Liberal presidential hopefuls are struggling to iron out a mutually acceptable selection process to pick a single candidate to compete in the December election, official sources said Wednesday.

Negotiators for the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) candidate Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo said talks held the day before failed to make headway on key issues, with both sides intensifying their war of words in a bid to gain public support.

Insiders said with the deadline for the official presidential candidates registration date fast approaching, the selection process will most likely be settled by a nationwide poll. All contenders must register with the National Election Commission by Monday if they want to run for this year's presidential election slated for Dec. 19.

"Initial consideration given to utilizing deliberate opinion polls in conjunction with a nationwide survey is still not an impossible option, but it may be hard to carry out due to the time restraints," said Lee In-young, co-chairman for Moon's election camp.

Reflecting the likely exclusion of other methods to gauge the popularity of liberal hopefuls, insiders from the two camps clashed over how the opinion poll questions will be phrased, which could be the deciding factor in the race.

Moon's aides have stressed it would be best if the poll asked prospective voters who is best suited to represent the liberal camp, while Ahn's side favors asking people who stands the better chance of defeating ruling Saenuri Party presidential contender Park Geun-hye in a one-on-one race.

The question asked is critical because Moon leads Ahn in terms of better representing the liberal or opposition camp, while the independent has an edge if people are asked which of the two men can beat Park.

To break the deadlock, the DUP offered a compromise that mixes the demands of two sides 50-50, and then calculates the average of the results to determine who is the winner. That plan, however, was rejected by Ahn.

Besides clashing over the question to be asked in the poll, both sides accused the other of breaking faith by releasing details of the ongoing negotiation process to the press. Such actions are seen as a move to generate more public support and blame the other side for any failure.

"Overall, things are not moving as smoothly as previously anticipated," said a DUP source, who declined to be identified.

He said because Moon and Ahn are committed to settling the issue before the deadline, they may meet in person to resolve outstanding issues so that the single candidacy debate can move forward.

"This could take place before the televised debate between the two men planned for later in the day," the official speculated.

If an understanding is reached, a nationwide poll could be carried out on Friday and Saturday with the victor announced over the weekend.

Officials from each side claim their candidate holds the edge to beat the Saenuri contender.

Moon's side said Ahn's utter lack of experience and no political party to support him will effectively hurt the independent's chances in a national election, especially if Saenuri engages in full-scale mud slinging tactics.

"Many allegations raised about Ahn's past that have been buried by the single candidacy debate will resurface and can hurt the independent candidate," a campaign strategist said.

In response, Kim Sung-sik, a senior advisor in Ahn's camp, said only the independent candidate can bolster public interest in the election and expand the support base of the liberal camp.

"If Ahn becomes the single candidate, then the election can become a race between the 'old' and the 'new' that can help merge forces wanting a change in government," he said.

Other Ahn supporters said even if the independent is named the single candidate, he will not join the DUP. (Yonhap)