By Choi Ha-young
The People’s Party and the Bareun Party plan to hold a joint national convention on Feb. 13 to finalize their merger.
“The two parties will hopefully be able to reach a consensus on the merged party’s name and relevant issues by Feb. 1. Then they will hold a joint convention on Feb. 13,” Bareun Party spokesman Yu Eui-dong said Monday.
Before the joint convention, the two parties will hold their own conventions to get approval for the merger from party members. The Bareun Party will hold its convention on Feb. 5, a party official said Tuesday. People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo has reiterated his plan to hold the convention on Feb. 4, despite the rival faction’s “sabotage.”
If the plan goes smoothly, the third-largest party with about 30 lawmakers will be created in mid-February. The envisioned party is targeting centrist voters who are not satisfied with the major parties ― the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and the conservative Liberty Korea Party.
The new leadership of the merged party has yet to be discussed, according to Yu.
On Jan. 3, the two parties launched a joint committee to push for the merger, amid the deepening internal feud between rival factions in the People’s Party.
In the end, the anti-merger faction in the People’s Party, formed with about 16 lawmakers from the Jeolla regions, declared it will launch a separate party named Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP), Sunday. They are aiming to launch the PDP, Feb. 6.
Meanwhile, a bumpy road lies ahead of the convention of the People’s Party. Pro-merger lawmakers are selecting eligible voters of the convention, but around 1,000 of them are promoters of the PDP.
“It is almost impossible to complete the proper list of the voters before Feb. 3, one day before the convention,” Rep. Kim Joong-ro, who is preparing the convention, said Tuesday.