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United New Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate Nomination and Presidential Election
Korea Brief
30/10/2007
296
Chung Dong-young, former chairman of the Uri Party, was elected the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) candidate to run for the 17th presidential election. Chung won the victory at the party's national convention held at Jangchung Gymnasium, Seoul on October 15, receiving 216,984 votes, or 43.8 percent of 495,911 total eligible votes combining off-ling voting, mobile phone voting and opinion polls. His victory brought the month-long nomination race of the party, which started in Jeju and Ulsan on September 15, to an end. The UNDP has now shifted its gear to launch a full-fledge presidential election campaign.
The largest ruling party's nomination of the presidential candidate is anticipated to bring a significant change to the presidential election landscape in which Lee Myung-bak, the candidate of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), has been enjoying a commanding lead. Now with the presidential candidate of the UNDP finalized, discussions over "choosing a single unified candidate representing the pan-ruling parties" have started to accelerate between the UNDP's Chung, Rhee In-je, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party (DP), and Moon Kook-hyun, the "splinter candidate" of the Creative Korea Party (tentative) taking an independent path.
Chung said in his acceptance speech, "For the past two months since the inception of the party, we have fiercely competed with each other. In the course of such competition, we were wounded and divided. Now, however, we have to heal the wounds and become unified. We can hope for a victory only when we become one."
Upon the nomination of the UNDP presidential candidate, the GNP announced that it will scrutinize Chung in full swing by operating "Chung Dong-young Team," under the in-house Special Commission for Inspection of Political Corruption, and "Pan-ruling Party Candidate Validation Team," an unofficial organization comprised of working-level GNP floor strategists.
"We extend words of congratulations to Chung Dong-young. However, he is the master of illegal, corruptive and crippled primary race and the politician of betrayal. Even if he managed to successfully betray others, he will never be free from the stigma of a failed government," GNP spokeswoman Na Kyung-won argued in a press briefing.
Immediately after the nomination, the opinion poll conducted by Korea Gallop showed that Chung garnered support of 16.2 percent, surpassing 10 percent for the first time. Following the GNP candidate Lee (55.5 percent) and the UNDP's candidate Chung, the CKP candidate Moon Kook-hyun received 5.3 percent support, and the DP's Rhee In-je and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP)'s Kwon Young-ghil with 3.0 percent respectively (October 16, Chosun Ilbo).
According to the opinion survey conducted by JoongAng Ilbo on the same day, the approval rating of Lee Myung-bak dropped from 50.7 percent on October 8 to 46.8 percent, while the support for Chung almost doubled from 7.6 percent to 14.8 percent. Moon Kook-hyun, Rhee In-je, and Kwon Young-ghil received support of 6.4 percent, 3.4 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
Victory of Well-organized Support… What About Approval Rating?
South Korean media ran a headline report on October 16 on the nomination of former Uri Chairman Chung as the presidential candidate of the UNDP, under titles such as "Chung Dong-young disapproves Lee Myung-bak's jungle capitalism (October 16, Kyunghyang Shinmun)," "Determined to overcome defeatism in presidential election (October 16, Kukmin Ilbo)," "Chung says, "Should now move towards healing wounds and becoming one" (October 16, DongA Ilbo)," "Chung says, "Will unify pan-ruling parties within this month" (October 16, Seoul Shinmun)," " "Not fully loaded yet" to have a show down with Lee Myung-bak (October 16, JoongAng Ilbo)," and "Will open era of peace on Korean peninsula (October 16, Hankyoreh)."
The newspapers allocated 3-5 pages to provide their analysis of the primary race, outlook of the presidential election, snapshots of the party's national convention, Chung's biography and his aides, and the response of various circles. The news outlet also offered their views in the editorials. In the article "Cut his way through Pro-Roh opposition with "organized power and support of Jeolla & Gwangju Areas,"" JoongAng Ilbo analyzed that Chung was able to win the primary race because i) he had the most solid presence in the party among the candidates, ii) he received collective support from the voters in Jeolla & Gwangju, and iii) he gained an upper hand in the dispute over the nomination rules by taking a thorough and strategic approach.
Hankook Ilbo wrote in ""Organized power" that survived primary race… but should be a drag on extending support to presidential election," that "Pan-ruling party supporters seem to have chosen Chung Dong-young, who has taken a firm root in the UNDP, because they were not able to dismiss the doubts they had on former Gyeonggi Province governor Sohn Hak-kyu originated from outside."
Meanwhile, Hankyoreh pointed out in the article "Unmoving primary victory…long way to go to realize "hopes of achieving unity"" that there is a big question mark on "how competitive Chung would be in the presidential election" and noted, "What matters now is how fast Chung can win support of over 20 percent, whether it be as a result of the primary race or with his own efforts. If he does successfully receive over 20 percent support, he will not only be able to show his competitiveness but have the power to lead the pan-ruling parties in selecting a single unified candidate."
In its editorial "Chung Dong-young won by landslide but still has long way to go," Hankook Ilbo wrote, "Unless Chung manages to boost approval rating to 25 percent in a short period of time, there is no point in being a presidential candidate. The rating will also work as a critical factor when he has discussions with Rhee of the DP or Moon of the CKP in the future."
JoongAng Ilbo argued in " ""Not fully loaded yet" to have a show down with Lee Myung-bak" that creating "a competition of "Pan-ruling party vs. GNP," not "UNDP vs. GNP" is still underway." "There is a "second round" left, which is to select a single unified candidate of the pan-ruling parties," the newspaper downplayed the significance of the UNDP's presidential candidate nomination. "The biggest reason behind the unsettling circumstances is Lee Myung-bak's strong approval rating that has continued to stay at about 50 percent or so," the newspaper pointed out.
In its lead story, Chosun Ilbo analyzed in detail Chung's strategy to win presidency under the title "To break down prevailing support for Lee Myung-bak with "80% vs. 20% " competition" on page 3. The newspaper wrote that Chung will attack Lee by tackling two areas, "peace" and "economy," and noted that Chung's plan to associate his image with "Gaesung" by emphasizing that he was the former reunification minister who had completed the construction of the Gaesung Industrial Complex, while at the same time continuing to stigmatize the GNP as "the force that supported cold war and other wars" is a strategy "frequently adopted by the ruling parties."
All Eyes on Choosing a Single Unified Presidential Candidate
There has been increasing attention on whether the pan-ruling presidential candidate should be chosen. Given that the GNP's Lee continues to maintain overwhelming support of over 50 percent with the rest of the minor candidates participating in the competition, there exists a dire need for a "rival horse," or a single unified candidate of the pan-ruling parties, with strong competitiveness to boost participation of the voters. Lee Myung-bak of the GNP and Kwon Young-ghil of the DLP have already set up the Election Planning Commission respectively, and the CKP has been gearing up to launch the party, with Moon taking the initiative, by holding a meeting of promoters.
"At the time (of the presidential election in 2002), Roh Moo-hyun of the Democratic Party and Chung Mong-joon of the National Alliance 21 dramatically joined hands at the last minute to unify the candidate and beat Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party who seemed undefeatable. It was only 24 days before the election that the two candidates agreed on a unified candidate (on November 25, 2002)," JoongAng Ilbo explained on the destructive power of a single unified candidate and reported, "There is still about 40 days' leeway according to the precedent to determine a single candidate who will represent the pan-ruling parties."
Hankyoreh also wrote in "Pan-ruling parties "cautious" for the time being in selecting a single candidate" about the possibility of the candidates of the pan-ruling parties unifying to single out a candidate. The newspaper commented that the competition for the presidency basically takes the form of "1 strong candidate vs. 4 weak candidates" at the moment and noted, "It seems that Chung of the UNDP, Rhee of the DP, Kwon of the DLP and Moon of the CKP are challenging Lee of the GNP, who is the commanding front-runner in the presidential race. The competition in itself appears to be a nonsense when looking at the approval rating."
In its editorial "Chung Dong-young, the candidate of majority party to run for semi-final of choosing a unified candidate," DongA Ilbo said, "Chung Dong-young is not fully recognized as a presidential candidate yet because he has to survive the semi-final round where a single unified candidate of the pan-ruling parties will be chosen." With regards to the possibility of a single unified candidate selection, the newspaper introduced the result of its opinion poll in which 53.7 percent of the respondents said that a single candidate of the pan-ruling parties "will be impossible."
Kyunghyang Shinmun pointed out in its editorial "Rationale and principle of pan-ruling parties' single candidate selection" that unifying to choose "a single candidate will only arouse political distrust and disillusion if the candidate is selected not based on the desire of the voters, or "the demand from the bottom," but through negotiations behind the closed doors between the parties." Seoul Shinmun criticized in "Prerequisite conditions of choosing a single unified candidate" that all that the pan-ruling parties have done in their discussions to select a single unified candidate was to chant "Anti-GNP, anti-Lee Myung-bak."
Written by Chung Kyoo-Deuk, a reporter of Yonhap News Agency (October 23, 2007)
