The camps of presidential candidates Ahn Cheol-soo and Moon Jae-in were ratcheting up criticism against each other Tuesday as they differed over the method of selecting a unified candidate.

Aides to the Democratic United Party’s Moon and independent Ahn accused the other side of maneuvering with the media and breaking the rules.

According to Rep. Woo Sang-ho, who is heading Moon’s communications team, Ahn’s negotiators suggested opinion polls and deliberative polls, with the latter being answered by a jury of 14,000 DUP central representatives, and an equal number of Ahn’s supporters. The plans suggested by Ahn’s side also include replacing a debate between the candidates with the televised debates scheduled for Wednesday.

Ahn’s negotiators also suggested conducting polls until 3,000 each of DUP members and Ahn’s supporters have answered the question “between Ahn Cheol-soo and Moon Jae-in, who would you support as the candidate to beat Park Geun-hye.”

For Moon’s camp, the sticking point is the selection of the jury.

“The DUP jury is formed with 14,000 central representatives, and that of Ahn’s camp is to consist of 14,000 people selected from those who actively support Ahn. How can this be said to be fair,” Woo said, adding that the suggestion of conducting two polls would be accepted.

“DUP’s central representatives are diverse, so they do not necessarily support Moon 100 percent. Just because this part was rejected, (Ahn’s aides) can’t claim that Moon did not make concessions.”

He added that Moon’s negotiators objected only to this specific part of the suggested method, and that Ahn’s negotiators said that a revised version would be presented later in the day.

“Ahn’s camp, which has broken the rules of the negotiations by holding official or unofficial briefings for the media, should apologize and come up with preventative measures.”

Since the end of Monday’s talks, an unnamed aide of Ahn has been quoted as saying that there was no “magnanimous concession” from Moon’s side, referring to Moon’s earlier comments.

Following the announcement of the merger plans on Nov. 6, Moon has commented on several occasions that concessions would be made to Ahn’s side to accommodate their demands, and on Sunday he announced that he would follow the candidate selection method chosen by the former academic.

Ahn’s aides, however, are telling a different story, accusing Moon’s campaign officials of manipulating the media.

Ahn’s spokesperson Yoo Min-young said Tuesday that no information regarding the negotiations leaked from his side and that Woo’s claims were false.

“We suggested a method because we were asked to do so, but the DUP did not accept. I will tell you the facts. The method of using opinion and deliberative polls in a one-to-one ratio was not suggested. The term deliberative poll was not even used,” Yoo said. He added that related information was carried by the media on Monday without his knowledge, and pointed to the DUP as the source saying, “I think you can conjecture as to how this came about.”

While tension mounted, Moon appeared to maintain composure, suggesting that the negotiation process be made public to avoid further mishaps, and to prevent the process “appearing to be not beautiful” to the public.

The suggestion, however, was quickly shot down by Ahn.

“(I) don’t think revealing such parts while the negotiations are being conducted is appropriate,” Ahn said.

“I hope they (the negotiations) can be conducted more smoothly to enable (the single candidate) to be selected with the blessings of the two sides’ supporters.”

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)