Parties have unanimously pledged to thoroughly reshuffle candidates and lower entry barriers for capable rookies ahead of this April’s general election, but their housecleaning attempts have turned into a factional battle for survival.

As nomination authorities trimmed incumbent lawmakers and heavyweights, the rejected candidates lashed out at what they claimed were biased and erroneous decisions.

For the ruling conservative Saenuri Party, the feud is between those close to President Park Geun-hye and the non-mainstreamers led by party chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung.

While the former group calls for first-time challengers, especially those who formerly held high-ranking positions in the administration, the latter mostly consists of incumbent lawmakers who seek to safeguard their current seats.
 

“I feel that our candidate nomination process has not been as reformative as it should have been,” Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, chief of the party’s nomination management committee, told reporters Monday.

“Those who have won themselves multiple terms in relatively unchallenging regions should face detailed investigations (as to their qualifications).”

The pro-Park lawmaker thus hinted at sweeping off some of the incumbent lawmakers in the party’s stronghold constituencies in Daegu, South Gyeongsang Province and key metropolitan areas.

The president’s recent trip to her home city of Daegu -- which some opposition charged was overt meddling by the head of state in the elections -- added to speculations that the pro-Park clique is attempting to pitch their favored candidates against current lawmakers.

Party chief and fifth-termer Kim, however, shrugged at the nomination committee’s ambitious calls for reshuffling.

“I regret that our party, preoccupied with the candidate nomination issue, has neglected the people’s livelihoods,” Kim said at the Supreme Council meeting.

This was the first time in weeks that he made an official remark at the council, as well as the first one since he was ordered to face a local primary in his Busan constituency.

In contrast with the ruling party, which is seeking to step up its nomination clear out, The Minjoo Party of Korea has been making drastic renewal-driven decisions to wipe out traces of the former leadership.

The party’s nomination management committee announced Monday that it would make strategic nominations in the administrative city of Sejong.

This effectively denies party candidacy for incumbent sixth-termer Rep. Lee Hae-chan, who was a former prime minister and close aide to the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.
 

It was also taken as a symbolic move by interim party chief Kim Chong-in, to once and for all strike out those affiliated to the former leadership, even at the price of losing a stronghold constituency.

Kim was brought to the party leadership earlier this year to replace Rep. Moon Jae-in, amid escalating criticism that the former Roh clique was monopolizing power.

“It is up to the leadership to make political judgment on whether or not to nominate Lee (for Sejong City),” the party’s nomination chief Hong Chang-sun has said repeatedly, evading direct responsibility for excluding the influential senior lawmaker.

Lee immediately vowed to fight against the party’s decision and to continue his election campaign as planned.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)