Ahn, Moon in 11th-hour talks for merging their candidacies

Presidential candidates Ahn Cheol-soo and Moon Jae-in inched towards finalizing the format of the unified candidate selection survey on Friday, with the negotiation teams as well as special envoys meeting to reach an agreement.

On Friday, representatives of Democratic United Party’s Moon and independent Ahn opened dual-channel talks to resolve issues surrounding the wording and format of the survey with less than three days left until the deadline.

Under the agreement issued on Nov. 6, the unified candidate needs to be selected before the end of final candidate registration on Monday.

In addition, with Moon ruling out the possibility of merging with Ahn after the Monday deadline, Saturday and Sunday represent the only window for the survey.

The talks on the selection method have moved along on rickety wheels from the outset with the two sides favoring contrasting methods.

Although the method was narrowed down to an opinion poll, which was favored by Ahn’s side, due mainly to the lack of time, the negotiators clashed over the wording of the survey.

Ahn’s side favors asking respondents who they think would win against the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, while Moon’s DUP has maintained that the question should be designed to single out the individual that best represents the progressive bloc.

The two sides’ positions are thought to be based on various survey results, which show that Ahn has higher ratings than Moon when pitted against Park, but the DUP candidate has stronger support as the progressive coalition’s candidate.

However, Gallup Korea’s polls for Nov. 19 to Nov. 21, placed Moon ahead of Park in a two-way race gaining 46 percent against Park’s 45 percent.

Ahn and Park tied in the latest poll with each gaining 45 percent.

The firm’s results also showed that Moon has a significant lead over Ahn as the favored unified candidate for the progressive bloc.

After the talks fell apart, Moon and Ahn attempted to address the situation in a one-on-one meeting on Thursday but were unable to reach an agreement.

However, positive developments came late Thursday following a proposal and counter-proposal for alternative survey formats coming from the DUP and Ahn’s camp.

The DUP proposed a survey asking both who is more suitable as a candidate and who is more likely to beat Park, with 50 percent weight given to each question.

The method was first presented by a group of civic organization leaders as a compromise.

Ahn’s campaigner shot down the proposal, but later proposed an alternative of measuring both their approval ratings and chances to defeat Park, which according to Ahn’s spokesperson Park Sun-sook was the “final proposal.”

While the two sides have ultimately reopened communications channels, the DUP appeared ill at ease with the ultimatum.

Moon’s communications chief Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the DUP said that while the proposal from Ahn’s side is a compromise from their earlier position, the use of “ultimatums between partners would be difficult for the public to understand,” before the talks were resumed.

As the two sides struggled to hammer out the details, pressure from outside the political arena continued to mount.

On Thursday a man in his 50s committed suicide leaving a note urging Ahn and Moon to form a united front, while an organization of young Ahn and Moon supporters issued a statement calling for the two candidates to work together.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)