With a day remaining to the crucial vote on President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, the ruling Saenuri Party’s pro-president faction alluded Thursday that there could be a considerable number of undecided lawmakers who will eventually withhold their vote on the bill.

The president’s supporters hope that some Saenuri non-mainstreamers will side with them, cutting the number of consenting votes to below the 200 required.

“The number of (Saenuri) lawmakers to advocate impeachment may not be as high as the nonmainstreamers claim it to be,” said pro-Park Rep. Hong Moon-jong Thursday in a radio interview on YTN.

“Even some among those who claim that (the party) should participate in the vote (without reservation) do not necessarily advocate impeachment.”

The pro-Park faction, which still accounts for the majority of the ruling party, including its leadership, says party members should participate in the secret ballot, but vote against it.

The party leadership thus seems to anchor its hope on “shy Park” figures -- those who have been concealing their allegiance to Park, aware of the public’s fury against the scandal-ridden president.

“Shy” voters are those that conceal their intentions until the actual ballot, creating a mismatch between polls and the final result of a vote.

But public opinion experts expressed skepticism over the existence of such supporters.

“The current corruption scandal makes it difficult for supporters to justify the president in any way,” said Bae Jong-chan, chief director at local pollster Research & Research.

He also described the general sentiment of silent Park proponents as “ashamed” rather than “shy,” suggesting the Saenuri Party members would not easily slink away from sanctioning the president.

The anticipation of the nonmainstream group standing against the president, on the contrary, is that the secret vote will encourage neutral lawmakers to break from the leadership’s pressure and uphold impeachment.

Rep. Chang Je-won, in a radio interview with CBS on Thursday, optimistically speculated the number of consenting votes could go as high as 220-230, which means that at least 48 Saenuri Party figures will back impeachment. This figure is even higher than the 35 earlier confirmed by another non-Park member, Rep. Hwang Young-cheul.

The number of Saenuri votes required to pass the impeachment bill is 28. The three opposition parties and independent lawmakers, all united for Park’s ouster, currently control 172 votes, 28 short of the required 200.

Rep. Hwang, who speaks for the nonmainstream group, also referred to the possibility of going public with the names of consenters, in case the bill is voted down Friday, aggravating the already agitated public sentiment.

Within the opposition camp, calls are increasingly being made for lawmakers to post their ballots -- approving the impeachment -- to their social media accounts, effectively turning the secret vote into an open one.

The current National Assembly Act states that the floor vote on impeachment should proceed anonymously, though the given clause has been criticized for impeding on the public's right to know.

But Saenuri reformists are still hesitant to bend to the pressure and go fully public with the names.

“I hope that the rights of our lawmakers (to freely vote on the impeachment bill) as individual constitutional organs are not hindered by illegitimate means,” Hwang said.

By Bae Hyun-jung ()


koreaherald@heraldcorp.com