As the presidential race picks up speed, the war of nerves over the potential alliance between presidential candidates Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo is escalating.

Both Moon and Ahn, for the time being, are focused on securing the upper hand in the would-be alliance.

The aides of the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye, on the other hand, are stepping up their vilification of the opposition.

Various methods are being weighed for forming a single liberal candidacy, such as Ahn joining the DUP or Moon and Ahn holding a primary-style vote.

Observers say that a smooth alliance will be more difficult if the popularity ratings of Moon and Ahn remain neck-and-neck.

“(Ahn) should either make his own party or come join (the DUP). He must choose one or the other,” said DUP chairwoman Lee Hae-chan during a radio interview on Friday.

“The basis of today’s democracy is partisan politics. How could an individual lead a nation? To make a law at the National Assembly, (the president) must join hands with someone. If (the president is independent), would he meet all 300 lawmakers and persuade them?” Lee said to a question on the potential alliance.

He added that what form the alliance would take would depend on the participation and acceptance of the public.

The Saenuri Party, meanwhile, is busy downplaying the significance of the potential alliance, aware that a single candidate from the opposition could cut heavily into Park’s support.

“They call it a single candidacy among Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo. We will no longer call it that. It is rather a withdrawal of Moon or Ahn from the race,” said former lawmaker Lee Jung-hyun, Park’s communications team chief, during a meeting with reporters earlier this week.

“If DUP’s Moon was to resign, it would mean a disintegration of the DUP. If Ahn is to resign, it would mean their political reform has failed,” Lee said, laying out the Saenuri Party’s position to condemn any form of alliance.

Lee also voiced the need for Ahn to set straight the appropriate degree of political reform that he demanded of the DUP in exchange for his cooperation during his presidential bid announcement last week.

“He must make clear whether he has the scale or standard to measure the reform, and clarify what he would approve of as sufficient reform.”

On Thursday, the Saenuri’s Rep. Kim Young-woo submitted a revision to the Political Funds Law that would obligate a candidate that had received election subsidies to return them upon withdrawal of candidacy. The move was aimed at the DUP, which, in the case of an Ahn-led alliance, would have to return 10 billion won in subsidies provided to a partisan presidential candidate.

“As the DUP pledges to finish the presidential race (with their own candidate), there would be no need for them to block the passage of the bill. If they do, it can be translated as them having no intention to finish the race,” said Saenuri floor leader Rep. Lee Hahn-koo at the party’s general assembly.

The DUP’s presidential candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in, meanwhile, has been stressing that the DUP is the only solution to the people’s calls for new politics.

“The only one that can resolve the ‘Ahn Cheol-soo phenomenon,’ which is the people’s quest for a change in politics, is not Ahn but the DUP,” Moon said Thursday at the first meeting of his election camp at the National Assembly.

Piloting the direction of the votes from progressives is considered crucial for Moon as well as for the DUP’s political fortunes.

On Friday during his visit to Gwangju, Moon expressed confidence.

“Because we have the same goal, the single candidacy will be achieved. There will never be a situation where us and Ahn each walk our own separate ways that would hinder (the opposition’s) acquisition of power and letting the Saenuri Party win by default,” Moon said at a press conference.

“I am a little behind Ahn (in support ratings) overall, but the gap narrowed significantly after I won the DUP nomination. I now am confident that I can go up against and eventually jump over (Ahn’s ratings) in a near future,” Moon added.

Ahn, for his part, expressed determination to finish the presidential race.

“I crossed the river on Wednesday last week (when I announced the presidential bid) and burnt the bridge that I came over,” Ahn said during a debate on Tuesday.

Jeong Yeon-soon, co-spokesman for Ahn, had said a day after the former software mogul’s presidential announcement, “We must keep in mind there are negative views toward a single candidacy or opposition alliance that appear like a political deal.”

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)