The presidential race is fast becoming a battle between conservative and progressive alliances as parties join hands to attract more votes in the tight competition.

On Thursday, the ruling Saenuri Party and the conservative minority Advancement and Unification Party announced their plans to merge.

Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo are also intensifying posturing to gain the upper hand in the process of merging their campaigns.

For the Saenuri Party, the merger will bring a larger presence in the National Assembly and shore up support behind its presidential candidate Park Geun-hye in the Chungcheong provinces, to which the Advancement and Unification Party has a strong affiliation. 

“The merger aims to stabilize and unify the country, and help Saenuri presidential candidate Park Geun-hye win this year’s presidential race,” AUP head Rhee In-je said in a news conference.

With the Chungcheong provinces having no clear affiliation to any of the three main presidential candidates, the region is considered to have the casting vote.

Recent polls by Gallup Korea show that the region has the second smallest disparity between Ahn and Park’s approval ratings after the Gyeonggi-Incheon area.

The gap between Ahn and Park in the Chungcheong provinces is 4 percent in favor of Park. In comparison, the national average for Park is 36 percent, and that for Ahn is 27 percent.

The development, however, is likely to be part of a larger strategy for forming a pan-conservative alliance to rally conservative voters firmly behind Park in the December election.

On Wednesday, Park attended an event organized by a non-governmental organization led by Rev. Suh Kyung-suk, a prominent conservative activist who has been at odds with the Saenuri candidate over the plans for Sejong City. In addition to Suh, the NGO’s leaders include Park Se-il, who founded the Korea Vision Party earlier this year.

Although the newly formed party failed to gain any political clout winning no seats, Park Se-il has had some influence in weakening Park’s position within the ruling party for a time with a number of Saenuri members reported to have considered joining forces with him before the April general elections.

Despite the past differences, however, Park has reached out to the minor conservative figures.

In a meeting held ahead of the event on Wednesday, Park met with Park Se-il and Suh to request their help with regards to “the vision for the country,” to which the meeting’s attendants replied that conservatives should cooperate to “prevent a leftist administration.”

As Park tackled the task of forming a pan-conservative alliance behind her campaign, the struggle between Ahn and Moon to gain the upper hand intensified.

The two sides have so far concentrated on political reform, a topic that has become central to the two candidates’ appeal to the voters.

In particular, the debate has narrowed on Ahn’s plans for reducing the number of National Assembly seats, and abolishing the central party system.

While Ahn claimed the measures to be essential for more transparent politics, Moon expressed doubt saying that he was “not sure if the measures are advisable, nor if they are plans for improving our politics.”

The trend of forming alliances is not limited to the major candidates.

On Thursday, independent candidates Kang Ji-won and Park Chan-jong announced that they had agreed to cooperate in forming political reform plans. The two minor players also called on Ahn to join them saying that a merger with Moon would be a “betrayal of the Ahn Cheol-soo syndrome.”

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