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Scripted politics to ruin party democracy

Posted April. 27, 2012 05:39,   

한국어

The main opposition Democratic United Party is noisy because former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, now a party adviser, seeks to become a chairman and Park Jie-won, a member of the party’s supreme council, wants the post of floor leader. Other party members who are also eyeing the positions criticized the decision with comments such as, “Collusion is neither democratic nor touching (Rep. Lee Nak-yeon),” “This is backroom dealing (Rep. Jeon Byeong-hun),” and “It’s an imperialistic idea (Rep.-elect Kim Han-gil).” Party adviser Sohn Hak-kyu said, “This is one way to run the party and lose the presidential election.” Former Rep. Jang Seong-min said, “This is anti-democratic and age-old politics to privatize the pro-Roh Moo-hyun group.”

The party will elect its floor leader May 4 and form a new leadership including the chairman and supreme council at its national convention June 9. If what Lee Hae-chan and Park said is true, the race for the posts of chairman and floor leader will be nothing but a formality. Such scripted politics will threaten party democracy. If such a party takes power, its ability to fulfill the spirit of democracy will be in question.

Lee Hae-chan is a key figure of the pro-Roh group who is based in the Chungcheong region. Park is a former confidant of President Kim Dae-jung who hails from the Jeolla provinces. Both Lee Hae-chan and Park might have colluded to dominate the party leadership while allowing other candidates including party advisers Moon Jae-in, Sohn and Chung Sye-kyun, and candidates from Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and the Seoul metropolitan area including South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Doo-kwan to compete for the presidency. Potential presidential candidate Moon is known to have agreed with Lee Hae-chan and Park. Critics say the three members intentionally distort what the party and voters want. Their plan appears like a well-balanced plot embracing both pro-Roh and anti-Roh groups and balanced nomination for the party leadership and president. On the flip side, however, lies their undemocratic intention.

The party, a combination of pro-Kim Dae-Jung and pro-Roh factions and civic groups, got into trouble after trying to nominate candidates by faction. The problematic nominations and subsequent failure were one of the causes of its defeat in the general elections. Nonetheless, the party is apparently repeating the same mistake by committing collusion again.

Behind the collusion lies 21 senior members, including Seoul National University professor emeritus Baek Nak-chung. They consist of the so-called groups Round Table Meeting for Hope in 2013 and Victory in 2012 and do everything to help the progressive camp to take power and pressure politicians. They forced the party and the minor opposition United Progressive Party to team up and field unified candidates, made candidate Lee Jung-hee, who caused controversy for manipulating the public opinion, resign, and encouraged the left to field the unified candidate Kwak No-hyun in the 2010 race for Seoul educational superintendent. They distort party democracy from the outside of the party.