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| Minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo speaks during a party meeting at the National Assembly, Monday, a day after he declared his bid for next April's by-election for the Seoul mayoral post. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
Minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo's bid for the Seoul mayoral post and his plan to form a "big tent" from the opposition bloc have brought different reactions in the political circle.
Attention is paid on whether the bid will provide momentum to bring solidarity among the conservative and centrist blocs, or whether it will rather bring about a division of the opposition.
After announcing his bid to run in next April's by-election, Sunday, Ahn rolled out a plan to form a coalition government for the capital with people from different opposition parties appointed to the city administration's main posts, during a party meeting the following day.
Ahn said the different parties should work together to reform politics and solve the wrongdoings of the former conservative national governments under President Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, and the current liberal Moon Jae-in administration.
"Members of the parties should join to create an innovative administration. To do this, the executive branch of the Seoul Metropolitan Government should be a coalition government made up of members of the opposition," Ahn said during the meeting. He said such a coalition would become a bridgehead for the opposition to win the next presidential election.
His declaration to run for Seoul mayor surprised the political circle, as he had previously said he would not do so, and instead would run in the presidential election in March 2022. Ahn said he reached a conclusion that the opposition would not be able to win the next presidential election unless it won next year's by-elections, especially the one for the Seoul mayoral post.
Even though next April's by-elections for the mayors of the country's two biggest cities, Seoul and Busan, are pressing matters for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), neither have been able to find suitable candidates for different reasons.
For the DPK, the biggest challenge is how to regain the public's support when the mayoral posts of the cities became vacant following the resignation of Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don in April and the suicide of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in July, after both of them faced sexual harassment allegations. They were members of the DPK.
The PPP is gearing up for the by-elections but candidates who declared a bid for the Seoul post, such as Kim Seon-dong or Lee Hye-hoon, are not gaining much support in public opinion polls.
In addition, PPP emergency committee chief Kim Chong-in, has shown a lukewarm response to Ahn's bid. He said that Ahn is just one candidate among many others and there was no need to pay any attention.
PPP nomination committee chief Rep. Chung Jin-suk said Ahn should show modesty and a spirit of sacrifice to serve as "a seed of wheat" to bring about an opposition coalition, implying that he should become a member of the PPP if he wants to form a big tent and run in the election as the only candidate representing the conservative bloc.
"I believe that Ahn's bid is from his sincere determination to put an end to the tyranny of the Moon Jae-in government," Chung said. "He must boldly abandon self-centered thinking and show a modest attitude and a spirit of sacrifice to become the seed for the opposition bloc's unity."
