Skeptics raise concerns about exacerbating ‘digital divide,’ succumbing to populism

The following is the sixth of a series of articles on Korean politics of 2012, an election year when general and presidential elections are taking place in the same year for the first time since 1992. ― Ed.


Rival parties are poised to introduce a set of new methods in their candidate nomination process for the April 11 general elections as they are struggling to woo voters disenchanted with partisan politics.

The methods include inviting citizens to vote for the candidates they support via mobile phones, regardless of their political orientation, and using public opinion polls to reflect more grassroots voices.

Despite their merits, experts, however, point out there could be some pitfalls, such as the weakening voices of party members in the crucial nomination process and populism fanned by online social networking services.

The methods largely target young voters, whose voices have risen in recent years on the back of SNS tools such as Twitter that have served to band them together as a political force to be reckoned with.

“Public distrust toward political parties has deepened due to a serious lack of sincere efforts to push for policies to help ease a variety of difficulties facing citizens,” said Yoon Pyung-joong, political philosophy professor at Hanshin University.

“These methods inviting voter participation are now rising as new channels for them to deliver their demands to political circles. Our political establishments have so far been too closed, which led to talks over the crises of Korea’s representative democracy.”

For both the ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition Democratic United Party, candidate nomination has long been a sensitive issue with many calling for a fundamental change. The party leadership had so far led the nomination process in a unilateral, clandestine manner, often triggering factional infighting and under-the-table dealings.

In order to reform the process, political circles here have considered the possibility of an “open primary system,” which invites citizens to select candidates irrespective of their political orientation.

At first, the system was welcomed, as it could offer more political opportunities to citizens and help enhance transparency in the nomination procedures. But its pitfalls have made the parties reconsider it.

Experts pointed out that morale among party members could diminish as the open primary offers citizens the voting rights in party affairs, which have been one of their prerogatives.

They also raised the possibility that a citizen in support of a party can participate in its rival party’s primary and vote for a weak candidate to boost the prospect for his or her party.

Considering these, the Saenuri Party decided not to introduce the open primary this time. Instead, it plans to use public opinion polls, whose results will comprise a significant part of the evaluation criteria for the candidate selection.

It plans to reflect the poll results in the candidate nomination for 196 electoral districts ― 80 percent of the total 245 constituencies. Candidates for the strategically vital constituencies ― the remaining 20 percent of the districts ― will be hand-picked by the party leadership.

Struggling to shake off its corrupt, elitist image and get closer to ordinary people, the ruling party plans to exclude some 25 percent of incumbent lawmakers from its nomination list based on their ethical qualities, online social networking capabilities and past legislative performances.

Regarding the mobile voting method, the Saenuri has said that more prudence needs to be taken, citing some associated risks such as failing to secure the secret ballot principle and possibilities of proxy votes and vote-buying.

Some experts expressed concern that the mobile phone voting could further deepen the so-called “mobile divide” or “digital divide” between tech-savvy young voters and older generations.

But the DUP has pushed for the mobile process on the back of its success and utilized it during the Jan. 15 leadership contest where an estimated 800,000 people voted via mobile phones.

The party argues the mobile ballot is an effective tool to address voter apathy and make the nomination process more transparent, legitimate and democratic.

Yoon of Hanshin University said that despite problems stemming from the digital divide, there are crucial merits of any method based on online IT technology.

“With the development of IT technology and social networking services, the positive sign is an increase in the political participation of those in their 20s and 30s, who have largely been estranged from politics for various reasons,” he said.

“Though there are concerns over the digital divide and excessive voices of young voters affecting the elections, we will see a balance of opinions (among different age groups) in the future. In the past, opinions of those in their 50s and 60s were too much amid political apathy among young people.”

Yoon, however, cautioned against uncontrollable populism among online communities.

“Opinions spread very fast online without giving us sufficient time to judge them on our own. They just snowball and are taken as fact regardless of whether they are truly legitimate. It is a cascade effect, one salient trait of the IT infrastructure,” he said.

Moving one step further to court voters in their 20s and 30s, the DUP is currently carrying out an open competition to put four young candidates on its proportional representation list.

A total of 389 people have applied for the “youth proportional representation” program. Around 20 percent of the applicants were job seekers, a point critics used to criticize their qualification.

“We believe it is natural that many job seekers apply for the program given Korea’s high youth jobless rate. We expect them to help solve problems facing people of their age,” Park Sang-pil, who is in charge of the program, told reporters.

Through document deliberations and interviews, the party is to pick 120 applicants. The party is then to conduct contests including open debates to narrow them down to the four applicants.

Critics say that the program that prompts “excessive competition” among applicants could fail to select truly capable representatives from the young voters.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)