Negotiators resumed talks for a single opposition presidential candidate Monday, focusing on the selection method and timing with only a week to go before the final candidate registration deadline.

According to the merger schedule announced on Nov. 6 when Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo agreed on the merger, the unified candidate needs to be selected before Nov. 26, the final day of candidate registration.

With only a week to go before the deadline, the two sides are considered likely to opt for opinion polls with auxiliary methods to select who will represent the coalition in the Dec. 19 election.

Auxiliary methods reported to be under discussion at the two camps include conducting deliberative polls and reflecting the deliberations of a “jury” in the decision along with the results of the opinion polls.

While Ahn’s side had favored opinion polls from the start, primaries are considered to be favorable to Moon who has the backing of the DUP’s extensive party network.

As Moon has announced that he will follow Ahn’s decision with regards to the matter, a method that includes some form of opinion poll is considered likely.

The two camps, however, have not been able to bypass the negotiations entirely with Ahn’s side declining to select the method unilaterally saying that Moon’s comments were “vague” with regards to the details.

Since the resumption of the talks, Moon has taken a more aggressive approach to the issue.

“I will gladly accept opinion polls (as the selection method) if Ahn’s side wants it,” Moon said at a press conference on Monday.

“Even if the time gets shorter making unification through opinion polls difficult, I will realize unification even through a one-on-one talk with Ahn.”

Moon, however, drew the line at his yielding to Ahn saying that his doing so will be “dereliction of duty” as he is a candidate selected by 1 million voters.

Moon added that he felt that he was much more suited to bringing about changes to the nation that Ahn.

In contrast, Ahn continued to stick to more fundamental aspects of the issue.

“The unification needs to be preceded by the two sides displaying new political practices and the agreement and cooperation of the two sides’ supporters,” Ahn said.

“If the two things are met, then the unified candidate is likely to have very high probability of beating Park (Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye).”

Both Ahn and Moon, however, responded negatively towards their forming a coalition government, with the winner of the candidate selection running for presidency with the loser serving as the prime minister.

Saying “the Roh Moo-hyun government is the last administration under which a public office will be taken,” Moon ruled out the possibility of him becoming the prime minister if Ahn gains the presidential office. With regards to the scenario of him being elected president, however, Moon said that he would like to place Ahn in positions related to his IT expertise.

Ahn simply said that such plans have never been discussed.

Sunday’s meeting was initiated by Moon’s announcement that he will follow Ahn’s lead with regards to the candidate selection method, and en-masse resignation of the DUP’s leadership.

The meeting, which lasted less than 30 minutes, was quickly followed by the announcement of the joint new politics declaration, which was set as a precondition for the merger. Main items listed in the declaration include reducing the power held by the president, introducing tougher anti-corruption measures for government officials, and adjusting the number of parliamentary seats by increasing the number of proportional lawmakers while decreasing the number of those representing constituencies.

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