The main opposition Democratic Party, which was called the Democratic United Party until last week, has elected Rep. Kim Han-gil as its new leader. By picking a non-mainstreamer as its new chairman, the party held the fractious mainstream faction accountable for the successive election defeats it has suffered since last April.
The Saturday leadership election was a two-way race between Kim, a seasoned politician in his fourth term as lawmaker, and Rep. Lee Yong-sup, the unified candidate of the mainstream group. Kim won comfortably by garnering 61.7 percent of the ballots against Lee’s 38.3 percent.
With the victory, Kim, 60, a top-notch political strategist, has settled the score with the mainstream faction, which identifies with the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. In the previous leadership contest held last June, Kim lost to a pro-Roh candidate by a narrow margin.
In his acceptance speech, the soft-spoken opposition leader pledged to put an end to the Democrats’ losing streak. He will face the first leadership test with parliamentary by-elections in October and another major test with the local elections slated for next June.
To win these elections, Kim needs to completely recreate his party and win back the public’s confidence. Topping his to-do list is the liquidation of factionalism. Personally, Kim does not belong to any faction. But factional feuds have deepened through the leadership election.
During the campaign period, Kim urged party members to take off the badges that marked them as pro-Roh or anti-Roh and mainstreamers or non-mainstreamers. He pledged that he would, if elected, wipe out factionalism by making personnel appointments in a nondiscriminatory and impartial way.
The need for Kim to pick officials in a fair and transparent manner is all the greater as the party’s newly formed five-member supreme council, which is headed by Kim, has none from the pro-Roh faction.
Kim will be able to exercise more discretion in filling party positions as the party has changed its constitution ― along with its name ― to shift the leadership structure from a collective leadership to one in which power is vested in the party chairman.
But it will not be easy to come to terms with the mainstream faction. On Friday, Moon Seung-geun, one of the key leaders of the pro-Roh group, bolted from the party. The actor-turned-politician simply could not accept the power shift and other changes it would entail.
Upon election as party leader, Kim said he would embark on a reform campaign immediately. He must feel a sense of urgency as the Democratic Party faces a strong challenge from Ahn Cheol-soo.
A former software entrepreneur who ran for president as an independent in the December election, Ahn recently became a lawmaker by winning a by-election in a Seoul district.
Ahn is widely expected to create a political party of his own and compete with the Democratic Party to become the main opposition party. A recent survey shows why the Democratic Party should take Ahn’s challenge seriously.
The survey, conducted late last month, asked the respondents which party they would support should Ahn create a new one. About 34 percent chose the Saenuri Party and, surprisingly, some 28 percent supported Ahn’s party. Less than 10 percent backed the Democratic Party.
In pushing for reforms, Kim needs to go beyond Ahn, whose slogan during the presidential race was “a new politics.” In the first place, Kim should make the Democratic Party one that people can trust. A political party that is not trusted by the public has no reason to exist.
But the opposition party did a great disservice to its trustworthiness last year by reversing its positions on some key issues, such as the free trade agreement with the United States. The policy flip flops made the party look opportunistic and called into question its ability to maintain policy consistency.
The party also raised questions about its capability to govern by sticking to policies that were out of touch with public opinion. For instance, there was a vast disconnect between public sentiment and the party’s stance on North Korea.
The party’s inconsiderate behavior was partly the result of the pro-Roh faction’s tendency to put its interests before those of the party and the nation. To fend off the challenge from Ahn and beat the ruling party in the coming elections, Kim needs to avoid the folly of failing to see the forest for the trees.
