The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party are speeding up their processes of parliamentary nomination ― including the selection of nominees in certain electoral districts and the designation of certain other districts for primaries. Several more days will be needed to finalize the processes.
Both parties have a set of criteria for nomination. They include loyalty to the party and popularity in electoral districts. No less important are connections to party leaders and power play among different factions. In other words, there are no uniform nomination rules. This speaks volumes about why each dropout has a seemingly justifiable complaint.
Yet some unmistakable trends have already emerged. Among the most notable is the changing of the guard, which was anticipated when the two rival parties started the processes. The nomination processes are being carried out, as the newly assertive groups tighten their grips on power ― the Park Geun-hye faction in the ruling party and the group of former Roh Moo-hyun loyalists in the opposition party.
The change was already anticipated when the groups took control of their respective parties. As one victim put it, what was “nomination reform” to the new power groups was “nomination annihilation” to their opponents.
The conservative ruling party under the leadership of Rep. Park Geun-hye, with her sights set on election to the presidency in December, promised to make a clean break with what it deemed to be a disagreeable past associated with President Lee Myung-bak. Many members of his inner circle were denied nominations.
Just as members of the old guard were denied nominations in the ruling party, so were their counterparts in the liberal opposition party, which had committed itself to making its progressive identity as the main guidepost in screening applicants for parliamentary nominations.
Notable among the victims were moderates who have supported the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, ignoring the party’s policy of demanding that the treaty be revised or abrogated. Juxtaposed against them were several former loyalists to the late progressive President Roh Moo-hyun, who were nominated despite rulings by lower courts that they breached the political funding law or the election law.
The opposition party insists that they are innocent until proven guilty in the Supreme Court. Of course, they are regarded as innocent in the court of law. But it is doubtful that the legal theory will prevail in the court of public opinion as well, not to mention at the polls.
As is often the case, some incumbent lawmakers denied nominations will certainly run in the upcoming general elections. They will either run as independents or jump ship and run as candidates of the parties of their choice.
Resistance by those denied nomination or being threatened with it is stronger in the ruling party than in the opposition party. They say they are considering splitting with the party to create their own party. Yet, their warning may not be taken too seriously, because a third party has little room for maneuver in the nation’s virtual two-party political system.
Instead, the rival parties will have to pay greater attention to finalizing their election platforms, with formal campaigns set to start when their nominees register in two weeks.
They have made so many promises, many of them focused on welfare, but neither of them has yet made public how it will finance its election pledges. With the help of economic experts and think tanks, the parties will have to project the amount of money needed to finance their election promises and the level of growth that needs to be reached if their costs are to be covered.
In the absence of growth targets, for instance, it would make no sense to promise to create a certain number of jobs. The level of growth is closely related to the number of jobs created.
If the parties want to make their election promise credible, they will have to set the targets for growth, inflation, tax revenues and other economic indexes. It goes without saying that these targets will have to be updated until after the presidential election.
