The ruling party’s chairman proposed the main opposition to hold nationwide open primaries for next year’s parliamentary elections on Monday, and to scrap the current system of allowing senior party officials to arbitrarily pick candidates before major polls.

Saenuri Party Rep. Kim Moo-sung added that the move aims to prevent senior party officials from picking personal favorites to run in major elections and to make the nomination process “more democratic,” during his speech celebrating the first anniversary of his chairmanship.
 

Kim’s statements appeared to be designed to deflect recent criticism from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy denouncing an ugly in-house fight in the Saenuri Party that peaked last week. 

President Park Geun-hye had pressured the Saenuri whip Rep. Yoo Seong-min to resign, after Yoo sponsored a bill that Park objected to. Yoo quit last week, saying he had tried to uphold democratic principles. 

The NPAD said the feud showed how “undemocratic” the ruling party was.

“One year ago, when I was elected party chair, I promised you I would make this party fair and democratic,” the Saenuri Party’s Kim said, as dozens of seated party officials and reporters listened on behind flashing news cameras.

“If there is one thing I would like to leave behind, it is the creation of a truly democratic candidate-selection system,” Kim added. The current nomination process only worsened factionalism by compelling junior politicians to choose an influential senior to pander to, Kim said.

The main opposition party’s spokesman Rep. Kim Yung-rok said the party would “favorably consider the idea,” adding the NPAD had agreed that the nomination process for candidates to major elections had to become fairer.

Saenuri Rep. Kim also proposed ditching the 2012 revisions to the National Assembly Act that allowed the minority party to stall bills from going to a plenary vote, saying they hampered the core principle of majority voting. 

The NPAD disagreed, saying that the revisions had prevented the tyranny of the majority.

The Saenuri Party chair also pledged to kick-start the economy, citing recent tallies from the Bank of Korea that lowered this year’s expected growth rate from 3.1 percent to 2.8 percent last week.

“I will stick to the ‘three goes’ during the remainder of my term as chair,” Kim said. “I will democratize the candidate selection system, revive the economy, and win in next year’s general elections.”

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)