Left declares unity in fractious meeting

By Bae Hyun-jung
The main opposition Democratic Party adopted a resolution Sunday to merge with the civic group-based Citizen Integration Party and integrate left-wing forces including the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, amid in-party strife and controversy over quorum.
The party held a provisional convention at Jamsil Gymnasium on Sunday upon the request of its consolidation committee to vote on the merger and integration resolution.
The vote, however, was caught up in a violent dispute over the quorum. The party was slated to announce the voting results at around 6:20 p.m. but put off the schedule until around 10 p.m. due to controversy over the quorum.
According to the party constitution, a resolution is adopted through a majority vote by 50 percent or more of its delegates present
A total of 5,820 delegates, more than the minimum quorum of 5,282, showed up at the convention, but only 5,081 cast votes.
The party leadership, which advocated the consolidation, claimed that the quorum for delegates present was satisfied.
“The national convention preparation committee decided in a vote of 7 to 3 that the required quorum was met. However, controversy remains, so it decided to summon the party internal affairs committee for the final decision,” said Lee Yong-sub, a spokesperson of the party.
According to Lee, 4,427 voted for the consolidation, with 640 against.
However, Rep. Park Jie-won and consolidation-boycotters claimed that the delegates present should not be regarded as delegates who actually took part in the vote.
“Those who showed up at the convention without voting cannot be regarded as part of the voting pool,” said an official.
The former floor leader and aspiring chairman stood against the Supreme Council’s plan on the merge and claimed that unity should only be achieved after the DP’s internal power shift.
His supporters suspected that the reason for the unexpected delay was the decision-making body’s efforts to manipulate the voting results.
Other members continued to blame the party’s decision for unity itself.
“Those who left the DP in the first place should reenter the party,” said Kim Yong-soo, a delegate member of the party.
“The DP is currently the leading opposition party with 87 parliamentary seats and is not to shake hands with the CIP.”
In response to such in-party backlash, chairman Sohn once again claimed during his opening speech that the inter-party merger would mean the DP’s expansion, not its breakup or defeat.
“The new party’s official name is to include ‘Democratic’ and will be referred to as the ‘Democratic Party’ as an abbreviation.”
Though the voting results turned out in favor of consolidation, the process was filled with uproar.
Before and throughout the gathering, some party members tussled with security officials as they staged protests against the decision, which they claimed infringed on the political identity of the DP.
A delegate, who stood against the party’s consolidation plan, hit a party member amid a dispute over fingerprint scanning which was required at the entrance. Others blocked Rep. Kim Jae-yoon, the master of ceremonies, from entering the stage on time.
Also, the opening was considerably delayed from its originally slated 2 p.m. start time as the quorum was not met until 2:47 p.m.
Once called to order, the convention swiftly and unanimously adopted a resolution denouncing the Korea-U.S. free trade deal ratification, and then moved on to heated debates and votes over the consolidation.
“Liberal unity should be initiated and led by the DP,” said Rep. Park Jie-won, who stood against resolving unity in the convention.
He also urged party members to maintain order during voting, pledging himself to abide by the given results.
The party’s former spokesperson Woo Sang-ho, on the other hand, advocated the need to confirm left-wing unity as soon as possible.
“The liberal camp has largely remained segmented and as a result powerless against the conservative party’s rule,” he said.
“The recent Seoul mayoral by-election showed us the urgent need to unite before next year’s big races.”
Upon the voting results, a joint 16-member committee ― seven from the DP, seven from the CIP, and two from the KFTU ― resolved to kick off Monday the detailed processes of consolidation, according to officials.
Its function is to decide the new party’s official name, draw up the internal constitution and to confirm the rules and schedules for electing a chairperson and a decision-making council.
The DP’s initial goal is to complete the inter-party merger on Saturday and the new leader election by year-end, according to party officials.
(tellme@heraldcorp.com)