It was to be a beautiful marriage. But jealousy, betrayal and deception were threatening the proposed union of the two progressive candidates and emboldened the nation’s former first daughter’s claim to the throne.

At the moment most expected to see a messy split, independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo announced that he would sacrifice his bid and pledged to honor the vows he made with Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in.

“Candidate Moon and I failed to bridge our positions. My last settlement offer failed to procure an agreement,” Ahn said in a news conference at his campaign headquarters in central Seoul, as camera flashes flooded his face.

“Now it has come to the situation where someone between candidate Moon and I have to yield,” he continued, trying his best to swallow his tears.

“I will relinquish my candidacy.”

The talks of an alliance emerged soon after the former software entrepreneur announced his candidacy as an independent candidate and Moon Jae-in won the nomination of the Democratic United Party.

It was a natural progression, and perhaps the only way to defeat Park Geun-hye of the conservative Saenuri Party.

Ahn had never been elected to public office, while Moon, though he had worked closely with Roh Moo-hyun for several decades, had only this year earned a seat in the National Assembly for the first time. Ahn had spent most his life writing computer software and grading final papers written by college students.

But the Seoul National University professor rose to stardom last year when he began visiting low-ranking colleges in the countryside, preaching hope and possibility to many of the students who felt that they were already falling behind in the competition because their diploma was not from a Seoul college.

Wild popularity turned into political capital as the 50-year-old professor burst onto the stage as a someone who could bring change. His approval ratings as a potential candidate for both Seoul mayor and president surged, despite his silence on his political ambitions.

Then, on the eve of an election to pick the mayor last year, he endorsed civil activist Park Won-soon after a 20-minute meeting. Park ended up defeating the conservative nominee who had been endorsed by Park Geun-hye.

The process of deciding on a single-candidacy between Ahn and Moon ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election was widely publicized by each camp to take on a similar stage-act, a “beautiful merger process” as each camp called it.

But it has been wreaking havoc by a series of sharp exchanges and accusations of backstabbing.

Last week, Ahn briskly called off negotiations, accusing the DUP of leaking unsubstantiated claims among its supporters and news outlets that Ahn would likely yield in a similar way to last year. Ahn’s campaign officials claimed that DUP had sent text messages to its supporters in an attempt to sway public opinion in favor of Moon.

Officials also noted some of the offensive comments DUP officials made about one of Ahn’s advisers, whose resume included work experience with the Saenuri Party.

“With the attitude that one can win by doing whatever and anything, then that would directly lead to a defeat in the election,” Ahn said in an interview with a newspaper shortly after he called halt to the merger process. “(My calling off the negotiations) is an attempt to put that to an end.”

Particularly irksome to the Ahn campaign has been the DUP’s attempt to peddle the media reporting of the negotiation process.

“The DUP has been leaking unsubstantiated claims about the two’s meeting,” said Yoo Min-young, Ahn’s spokesman, in a news briefing. “Passing on false information amounts to a violation of the negotiating rules.”

Ahn had taken pains to construct his political brand as that of new politics. But he accused the DUP of still having a foot in the old waters, mobilizing its mammoth organization to influence the public opinion polls, which was largely expected to be the single deciding factor in whose name would appear on the ballot.

Ahn has especially been critical of factionalism within the DUP. “By falling into factionalism and neglecting the people, the election cannot be won,” he told reporters. Many took his remark to be referring to the pro-Roh faction within the DUP, who have been identified by Ahn’s campaign as the impediment to DUP’s undertaking significant political reforms.

The present deadlock over negotiations has shadowed the cooperative efforts by the two progressive candidates to build up their case for change. Last week, the two issued a joint declaration on their promise to engage in new politics.

“Politics, which should present a vision for the future, unify the people, and bring out fundamental changes in our society, has settled for old establishment and old vested interests and therefore has not properly represented the will of the people,” the joint declaration read. “Politics must change.”

The joint declaration contained agreements in broad policy pledges, such as reform of the prosecution service and political parties. But it failed to gain much traction in the news cycle as cameras and voice recorders were pointed towards the ongoing bickering and sharp verbal exchanges between the two camps.

The televised debate on Wednesday evening further revealed the growing schism between them. On stage, before the cameras rolled, the two barely exchanged any heartfelt greetings ― not even the rookie politician’s awkward attempt at charm.

The dearth of political acumen in the former special warfare commando and computer software developer immediately showed once the two were on air. Moon pointed out Ahn’s stubborn attitude toward the negotiation, which Ahn threw right back.

Park Geun-hye has criticized the candidacy merger as an activity of the old politics, not the step toward “political reform” that Ahn had been calling for.

“What is buried by the candidacy merger is an examination of policies and character of the candidates,” Park told reporters. “Looking at the merger process, it appears to be a power game of deciding who has more of an edge.”

All that came to an abrupt end on Friday night as Ahn declared his withdrawal from the presidential race.

“To all those campaign volunteers who gave up their jobs and took a leave of absence from school to dedicate themselves to my campaign, I’m sorry,” he said.

By Samuel Songhoon Lee (songhoon@heraldcorp.com)