The ruling and opposition parties are gearing up for the first elections under the Park Geun-hye administration amid escalating controversy over the president’s flawed appointments.

In the April 24 by-elections, three National Assembly seats ― Seoul’s Nowon C, Busan’s Yeongdo, and the Buyeo-Cheongyang constituency in South Chungcheong Province ― and a number of provincial government and council seats will be contested.

The main opposition Democratic United Party hopes to use the by-elections as an opportunity to put the president and the ruling party on the defensive.

“(The DUP) will use a strategy that raises alarm and warns (the government), and assesses the Park Geun-hye administration in the elections,” Rep. Min Byung-doo of the DUP told reporters on Wednesday. The DUP and the minor opposition parties have been turning up the heat on the president to take steps to reinforce the vetting system for naming candidates and appointees for high-level posts following six failed nominations.

Since Park’s election, six individuals nominated to some of the highest posts have quit following revelations of past wrongdoings or for other unforeseen personal reasons.

Of the three parliamentary constituencies, the Nowon C has drawn the most attention with former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo choosing the area as the potential launch pad for his political career.

The constituency in northern Seoul has been vacant since the Supreme Court confirmed former Progressive Justice Party lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan’s conviction for disclosing illegally obtained information in February. His wife Kim Ji-seon is running in the election.

With the DUP opting out of the Nowon C race, Ahn will be running against Roh’s wife Kim Ji-seon and Jung Tae-heung of the leftist Unified Progressive Party. From the ruling Saenuri Party, former police chief Huh Joon-young has been chosen to run in the northern Seoul constituency.

The two main parties, however, are unlikely to be able to avoid criticism for ignoring their pledges to reform or abolish the candidate nomination systems issued in the run up to the Dec. 19 presidential election last year.

The Saenuri Party’s plans to forgo candidate nominations ran aground following opposition from members of the supreme council. Along with Huh, the ruling party has chosen Kim Moo-sung, a former lawmaker and a key ally of the president, to run in Busan, and former South Chungcheong Province Gov. Lee Wan-koo for the Buyeo-Cheongyang constituency.

As for the DUP, it nominated Kim Bi-o for the Yeongdo constituency and is now in the process of selecting the candidate for the South Chungcheong constituency. Kim is the chief of the DUP council for Busan’s Yeongdo area.

While the main opposition has opted not to field a candidate for the Nowon C constituency, the decision is seen as having been largely motivated by the so-called “political debt” it has to Ahn, and for concerns that the Saenuri Party candidate will gain advantage if the progressive vote is divided.

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