Upon the results of last week’s general elections, parties have set out to embrace moderate members of their faction ahead of December’s presidential election.

Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party started her under-the-table communications with center-right political rookies, according to party officials Monday.

She will not, however, immediately ally with conventional right-wing parties such as the Liberty Forward Party or the Korea Vision Party. The latter was disbanded after the elections as it won less than 1 percent of the party preference vote.

After taking over the party’s interim leadership late last year, Park has constantly tried to differentiate herself from the current Lee Myung-bak administration and to display the party’s efforts for renewal.

She also worked out a series of welfare policies and recruited reform-inclined members as key officials.

“The general elections turned out favorable for Park but she still needs to expand her contact with a wider variety of voters in order to raise her chances for the year-end presidential race,” her aide said.

The new figures are expected to play a significant role in the party’s new leadership, which will be confirmed in the national convention slated for next month.

The main opposition Democratic United Party, too, set to embrace the center-left voters especially as its union with the far left Unified Progressive Party turned out to be a double-edged sword in the elections.

The two left-wing parties succeeded in unifying their candidates in most constituencies through their political alliance but also faced internal feuds in the candidate selection process.

Observers also noted that their bond largely pulled away voters of the center-left who felt against the UPP’s progressive policies and pro-North Korean stance.

After the elections, the left-wing unity issue has thus been pushed aside, overwhelmed by imminent issues such as the leadership reshuffle.

It is unlikely, however, that the 127-seat DUP will give up the bond as the 13 seats held by the UPP are crucial in order for them to stand close to even with the Saenuri’s 152 seats.

Also, the recent news reports suggesting that Ahn Cheol-soo is seeking the presidency came as a potential threat to the DUP as the professor is known to take a center-left political direction, which may attract conventional liberal voters.

DUP figures such as Rep. Park Jie-won suggested that Ahn start his political career in the DUP but the professor is reported to be scheming a new political party of his own.

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