The protagonist of this year’s presidential election has undoubtedly been “political reform,” with each of the three major candidates pledging to reduce lawmakers’ privileges, balance out the powers of the president and tighten watch on high-level irregularities.

All three tout “new politics” in unison and many measures coincide. But there are also visible differences, namely in resetting the political structure such as by abolishing or weakening the central party system or reducing the number of lawmakers.

The political reform measures are likely to get several major facelifts in the lead up to the Dec. 19 election as the liberal candidates Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo continue to parley on their single candidacy plans on the platform of new politics to be highlighted in their joint announcement.

Joining in the fray, Ahn Dae-hee, the key political reform man for the Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, suggested Monday that all three team up for an all-inclusive political reform project, to which the other two candidates responded positively.

Delegates of the three candidates are expected to gather in the near future and discuss ways to revise and reorganize relevant regulations and laws. The priority would be to agree on issues on which the three candidates already have the same positions, such as holding open primaries and making the constituency demarcation committee independent.

Observers, however, cautioned against the three-way consultative body from being politicized.

“It is incredibly doubtful whether the discussion will go beyond making a declaratory agreement,” said politics professor Yun Seong-yi of Kyung Hee University.

“It would be more benefiting for the voters to be allowed an opportunity evaluate each candidate’s pledges in order to exercise their vote just as how an election should be, instead of having the delegates of the three candidates gather and make top-down decisions on their own,” Yun said.

For the time being, all three share similar reform measures such as cutting down on lawmakers’ privileges and restricting the party’s nomination rights. Ahn, who rose to popularity based on his calls for political reform, proposes more drastic changes such as closing down or radically reducing the role of central parties.

Park announced her reform measures on Nov. 6, vowing to introduce an open primary system in which both the ruling and opposition parties would elect their parliamentary race candidates through public votes. She also pledged to limit lawmakers’ privileges including immunity from arrest, and curtail the party’s nomination powers.

Moon also released his political reform plans on Oct. 28, and additional partisan reform measures on Nov. 6. His ideas included cutting the central party’s influence by limiting its nomination rights.

Ahn announced his measures on Oct. 7, by presenting 10 political innovation agenda points. He additionally explained his visions at various speeches at universities, aiming to overhaul the parliamentary, partisan and election systems.

Park’s reform measures are focused on revising the nomination and partisan regulations, in addition to preventing irregularities among those in power.

“Wrongful politics is the biggest hurdle that blocks the happiness of the people,” Park had said at her press conference.

Park promises to have people participate in selecting the candidates for the National Assembly and abolish the so-called “closed-door” nomination of proportional members as a means to eradicate centralized power of the party.

Candidates running in the general or presidential elections will need to finalize their bid two months and four months prior to the election day, respectively, to provide ample time for the voters to gauge them, her plan proposes.

To minimize lawmakers’ vested rights, their privilege of exemption from liability would be highly restricted and their immunity from arrest will be discarded. The Assembly’s Ethics Committee and the demarcation committee of an electorate would be comprised wholly with external figures. To stamp out the “imperialistic” presidential system, Park also vowed to resurrect the recommendations of Cabinet members by the prime minister and bestow personnel authorities for affiliated organizations to each minister.

To tackle irregularities surrounding a president’s associates, Park promised to introduce a special investigator system to be handled by the Assembly. A permanent special prosecutors’ team will be installed to probe any corruption of high-ranking government officials.

Moon, in the meantime, concentrates on strengthening the party’s policy-making function while weakening the role of the central party such as by stripping its nomination rights.

“I aim to fundamentally prevent the sharing of (power) among factions in operating the central party or making nominations, which are derived from the central party’s leadership structure and the costly election system,” Moon previously said.

Moon vows to reduce the number of lawmakers representing constituencies to 200, and expand the number of proportional lawmakers to 100. In order to reform the party, he suggests restricting the party’s nomination of regional heads and local councilman, and for the people to nominate proportional lawmakers as well as those for the public posts.

To prevent irregularities, Moon proposes disclosing assets of not only the presidential candidate but those of his or her spouse and siblings.

Other pledges include scrapping the pension for lawmakers, banning lawmakers from holding for-profit positions, and setting up an independent body to investigate any corruption cases involving high-ranking officials. Moon also promises to make independent the demarcation committee of electorate.

Ahn had announced his vision to overhaul politics by reducing the parliamentary seats and state subsidies for political parties, scrapping the central party system, and reducing by one-tenth the public posts that the president is entitled to designate.

“The president must first lay down one’s vested rights, then the parliament, to confidently demand others in power, such as chaebols and the prosecution, that they should lay down theirs, too, in order for society to change,” Ahn had said.

Ahn set forth three political reform visions, to create cooperative politics, reinforce direct democracy and abandon privileges.

His most substantial pledges include reducing the number of lawmakers and the state subsidies for political parties, and to abolish the central party system.

He also touts getting rid of the party leadership forcing compulsory support among its members on critical issues, returning the nomination rights to the people and opening the Assembly year-round.

Ahn, like Moon, also pledges to set up an independent body to investigate corruption cases of high-ranking public servants.

So far, Moon and Ahn’s delegates have been negotiating their political reform policies to devise a joint announcement on new politics that will be the premise of their single candidacy.

They agreed to guarantee the powers of prime minister to recommend appointment or dismissal of Cabinet members, currently exercised by the president.

They also agreed to set up the investigation body to probe high-ranking officials’ corruption charges.

In order to reform the Assembly, the duo has agreed to enable people’s participation in important administrative decisions and scrap the pension for lawmakers.

The Ethics Committee, the demarcation committee and the committee to review the Assembly’s expenditures will be open to citizens for participation.

They, however, remained at loggerheads over fundamental issues such as how to reduce the number of lawmakers and state subsidies, as well as the future role of the central party.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)