Young leader's nomination exam plan raises question

Main opposition People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok speaks during a general meeting of party lawmakers at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday, three days after he was elected as the new main opposition leader. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Debates have risen over an idea presented by Lee Jun-seok, the young leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), to select candidates for next year's local elections through a qualifying exam of computer skills, reading comprehension and presentation ability.

The idea is aimed at selecting candidates “fairly” regardless of their age, past experience or connections with party leadership, so more talented and young people with little experience in politics can run in the elections. However, some raise doubts whether such skills would prove people's qualification as good politicians.

During his appearance on a radio show of local broadcaster MBC, Monday, Lee said he would introduce a qualifying examination to verify if candidates applying for the party's nomination to run in the local elections slated for June 1 next year have the “basic” skills and abilities needed to serve as local government leaders.

Lee also said all of the candidates, including the current local government chiefs of the PPP such as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, would also need to take the examination if they want to be PPP candidates again.

“The test would be applied equally to everyone who wants to become a PPP candidate in the next local elections,” Lee said. “I don't want anything shameful to happen, but if an incumbent local government chief cannot pass the test, their failure may rather prove that this system is necessary.”

According to what Lee has been mentioning since before he became the new main opposition leader, the qualification test is likely to consist of data interpretation, presentation skills, reading comprehension and computer literacy, such as the ability to use Microsoft spreadsheet program Excel.

Lee said he believes that the new qualification examination system would offer equal opportunities for potential candidates and open the door for more political rookies. But he said the examination will be only for minimum verification of their qualifications and is not intended to grade potential candidates, adding they could take the test several times if they do not pass it at first.

Main opposition People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok, right, and minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo grip hands during Lee's courtesy visit to Ahn at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday, five days after Lee was elected to lead the PPP. Yonhap

Some have expressed support for Lee's idea, including the PPP's three-term lawmaker Rep. Ha Tae-keung, who declared his bid for the party's primary to become the main opposition's presidential candidate. Ha said he had already discussed the matter with Lee years ago and the new system is aimed at changing the old custom of nominating candidates based on their personal ties with influential party figures.

But many other political watchers expressed doubts if the qualification test would really work as intended. They said such a test would not be an effective tool to check if the potential candidates are eligible to be political leaders, because other qualifications such as having a high sense of ethics would matter more than computer skills.

“It is a stretch to recognize a person as being qualified as a politician only because the person has passed the test according to the party's standards. It is questionable whether it is possible to measure the qualifications and abilities of politicians with a fragmentary test like a computer literacy test,” said Park Seong-min, a 24-year-old former Supreme Council member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

Rep. Jang Hye-young, a 34-year-old lawmaker of the minor opposition Justice Party, also said, “It may seem fair at first glance to select candidates after taking an exam, but if we think of a member of the National Assembly as a school class leader, we would easily see how strange the nomination qualification test system is. If the school says it would allow only students who pass a qualification test to become class president candidates, would we agree?”

Jang said it is up to voters to decide who becomes a candidate for a public job. “Not being good at using Excel and being disqualified as a public official ― how can the two be linked?” she said.

In the meantime, Lee made a courtesy visit to the minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo at the National Assembly, Wednesday. The PPP and the People's Party have been discussing a merger to form a “conservative big tent” to beat the ruling liberal bloc in the presidential election next March.