Members who fail to win party ticket mull running as independents, creating new party


The forthcoming general elections are expected to see a heated multiple-party competition as those who have failed to secure candidacy with their parties are moving to join a nascent party, forge an alliance of independents or create a new party.

The parliamentary elections, slated for April 11, were largely expected to be a battle between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party.

But as they have sought to carry out major reform in the realm of candidate nomination as part of efforts to woo voters disenchanted with establishment politics, the rival parties have excluded some of their stalwart members from the nomination list.

Han Gwang-ok, a senior advisor to the DUP, announced on Friday that he would leave the party and run as an independent for a parliamentary seat representing the Gwanak-gap district in Seoul. He failed to get the party ticket for the election.

Saenuri members who are loyal to President Lee Myung-bak also indicated that they would bolt from their party and run as independents.

They include former party leader Rep. Ahn Sang-soo and former presidential aide for public relations Lee Dong-kwan. The so-called pro-Lee faction calls the nomination process unfair, as the party seeks to distance itself from what critics call the lame-duck president through its candidate choices.

For the parliamentary elections, the conservative and liberal blocs seem to be failing to form their respective unified alliances, as they apparently find it difficult to bridge their differences over candidate nomination issues.

Concerning those who fail to win the Saenuri ticket, observers have raised the possibility that some of them could drop out and join the newly-established K Party.

The K Party was established last month under the leadership of Park Se-il, a former lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, and president of the non-profit think tank Hansun Foundation.

The party seeking to include “reform-minded conservatives and reasonable liberals” has sought to bring in influential figures with an aim to field its candidates in more than 200 constituencies of the total 246.

The efforts by the DUP to form an opposition alliance with other minority parties including the Unified Progressive Party are faltering as they are having difficulty reaching an agreement over how to unify their candidacy.

Some of the DUP members who were closely affiliated with former President Kim Dae-jung have also reportedly considered forming a new party since they failed to get candidacy.

They argue that they have been unfairly treated as the DUP mainstreamers are those who were closely associated with former President Roh Moo-hyun and those from civil society. They include former National Assembly Speaker Kim Deok-gyu.

Under these circumstances, analysts anticipate the number of those running for the elections is expected to reach a new high. The figure was 1,040 in 2000, 1,175 in 2004 and 1,113 in 2008.

The number of those who have made the preliminary candidate registration with the state election watchdog for this year’s elections is 1,957.

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