![[최상연 논설위원이 간다] Se-Hoon Oh and Chul-Soo Ahn, Seok-Yeol Yoon, who intervened in unification](https://pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202103/09/1365bf8d-869b-4f96-98d5-a12ba4d0b4a8.jpg "[최상연 논설위원이 간다] Se-Hoon Oh and Chul-Soo Ahn, Seok-Yeol Yoon, who intervened in unification")
Seoul Mayor’s opposition consolidation candidate negotiations are under way
The editorial board member goes
The election is less than a month away, and the candidates for the mayor of Seoul have been confirmed, but the match is still dark. The unification of opposition candidates remains. That was the election ten years ago. In 2011, the election was fluctuated in the Mayor of Seoul due to the rumors that Ahn Cheol-soo was running. At that time, the ruling party candidate Na Gyeong-won and the opposition Democratic Party candidate Park Young-seon were decided, but independent candidate Park Won-soon in ‘Ahn Cheol-soo wind’ defeated the opposition candidate and the ruling party candidate in turn. This time, it is whether or not the people’s power Oh Se-hoon and National Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo will achieve unification. According to the polls alone, the ruling party is superior in a multilateral structure without unification of opposition powers. But when it comes to a confrontation, it’s different. It’s an election that everyone deserves.
Kim Geun-sik Head of the People’s Strength Strategy Office
“The open primary format must be contested
Candidate for unification will win the final election”
Lee Tae-gyu, Secretary General of the National Assembly Party
“Unification is a 100% poll method
Oh Se-hoon and Na Gyeong-won did the same.”
In the opposition, it seems that candidates are generally unified. This is because the pressure from the opposition supporters who lost four consecutive victories in the national election is stronger than ever. A year ahead of the presidential election, the opposition is an important opportunity to increase competitiveness, and if unification fails and the election is lost, it is obvious that we will not be able to withstand the aftermath. Nevertheless, negotiations for unification are in the process of being confused. Candidate Ahn insists on the polls. However, the power of the people came up with a’mixed method of citizen participation contest and public opinion polls’. The deadline for registration of candidates is 19th. 10 days left.
I asked Kim Geun-sik, head of the People’s Strength Strategy Office, what he meant. He recently said,’I will come up with a unification method that Candidate Ahn cannot reject.’
Kim Geun-sik, head of the People’s Strength Strategy Office. Reporter Lim Hyun-dong
- What is the unification method that cannot be rejected?
- “It is an open primary format for a full civic participation contest.”
- Candidate Ahn’s side rejects it by saying, “It is to reduce unification to party member votes.”
- “Rather than relying on the results of a poll of just 1000 people to receive calls, there is a justification for an open primary with hundreds of thousands of people participating. The unification is also important to the outcome, but it should be a process that helps the unification candidate win the finals. In the process of giving unified voting rights to any desired citizen and gathering support from such voters, the competitiveness of winning the finals increases.”
- What if the Nationalist Party continues to reject it?
- “We have a cause. The Citizen Participation Competition does not distrust or exclude candidate Ahn. It is to be faithful to the purpose of unification to increase competitiveness in the finals. This is the way the Democratic Party has been doing because it requires the participation of many citizens to broaden the spectrum. Even when Park Won-soon and Park Young-seon were unified 10 years ago, 40% of citizen participation contests, 30% of public opinion polls, and 30% of TV debate evaluation teams.”
- Will it be candidate unification?
- “Either way, breaking the unification negotiations is not easy. However, there is a distance because we are trying to put several cards on the negotiating table, and the Nationalist Party is trying to finish it with a single poll. In addition, Candidate Ahn is in a hurry, and we are aiming for the 19th, but he is in a position that there will be time until the end of this month when the ballot is printed. Eventually, Candidate Se-Hoon Oh becomes a single candidate.”
- “There is a cause for the unification method. Only open primary is the way a single candidate can win the finals. Also, time is on the side of Oh candidate. Candidate Ahn’s approval rating seems to stagnate or fall. Conversely, candidate Oh’s approval rating is gradually rising. Soon, large’Sehun Oh banners’ will be hung everywhere. Supporters of candidate Na Kyung-won will be heading for Candidate Oh. We are laid back. Candidate Ahn is anxious.”
Even if you agree on the 100% polling method required by the National Assembly, different results come out when you ask’suitability’ and’competitiveness’. It means that there are a lot of questions about how to ask each other. In 2002, the’Unification of Roh Moo-Hyun and Jung Mong-Joon’ also fought over this issue. In the end, it was concluded,’Who do you support Roh Moo-hyun and Chung Mong-joon as a competitive single candidate compared to GNP candidate Lee Hoi-chang?’ Now, however, the conditions for unification negotiations are rather added to’Sehun Oh, who is resilient’.
The same question was asked to Lee Tae-gyu, secretary-general of the National Assembly Party.
Lee Tae-gyu, Secretary General of the People’s Party. Reporter Shin In-seop
- What do you think of open primary?
- “It’s not worth the work. The electoral corps election is basically an unfair vote to mobilize party members. Who and how voluntarily will participate in the corona politics? In addition, both the People’s Party and the People’s Power were 100% polled to vote for the party’s candidates. So Candidate Se-hoon Oh was elected. If it were the electoral corps election, candidate Na Gyeong-won would have won. Now, they come out with the way they didn’t. It’s a trick.”
- Will the power of the people accept the 100% poll method?
- “Now, different party candidates are going to unify and select the winning candidate. What other methods are there besides the polls? It is not a party contest. I’m not talking about fitness.”
- Some voices worry about the ruling party supporters’ opposition.
- “Many are the side that there is no reverse selection of opinion polls. If there is, candidate Ahn is most likely to lose money. From the standpoint of Democratic supporters, Candidate Oh is more likely to be a little easier than Ahn.”
- Will the opposition candidates be unified?
- “In the end, it works. It is difficult to be unified, but if not, it is a sure result of the investigation. The demands of opposition supporters are high, making it difficult for anyone to interfere. However, it has to be done quickly and it has to be a beautiful unity. If you go until the ballot is printed, whoever is unified will fail. The anger against the regime could not be gathered, and only the middle level of’the opposition party is fighting again’ increases. Nevertheless, it is frustrating because it says,’Let’s elect the electoral group’ and’Wear the sign twice.’ Mayor Park Won-soon was also elected with the number 10 mark.”
The problem of preferences is a different story. If the People’s Power candidate loses in the unification of opposition primary, the conservative party faces the first situation in which it is unable to produce a self-party candidate. Candidate Ahn’s running for two times means joining the people’s power before the election or consolidating the party’s party, but that’s not likely. However, rumors spread among the opposition parties that if they run for No. 4, they will form a new party with former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yeol after the election. There is no basis. However, the power of the people, whose majority leader in the party is not clear, is concerned about the centrifugal force that may arise after going all-in to Candidate Ahn Chul-soo.
Representative Jeong Jin-seok. Reporter Park Jong-geun
In order to avoid such an unwanted situation, it means that no matter who is the single candidate for the opposition, a safety plate of’running for the second time’ is needed. I asked Congressman Jeong Jin-seok, who was the chairman of the People’s Power Nomination Management Committee, if such talks were really coming and going.
- Is running No. 2 a party requirement?
- “There are a lot of lawmakers who say,’There shouldn’t be cases where our party can’t make a candidate’ rather than the party’s request. In addition, if it is unified as Candidate Ahn, it is necessary to consider which of the 2nd and 4th times is advantageous to win the finals. If our Party candidate goes to No. 2, it is a candidate for the people’s strength, but if Ahn’s No. 2, it is more than after the pan-optics consolidation. Going out to number 4 is to carry the image of the division of opposition.”
- Yoon Seok-yeol Is it really possible to have a new party?
- “I am told that Yoon believes he will do politics, but he is not the person who will create a political association with a new political force that is self-centered.”
- How do you view the claim that if the turnout rate is low, even a single opposition candidate is difficult?
- “It is true that the voter turnout for re-election has been low in the past, but the low turnout does not mean that only the ruling party supporters go to the polls. There are also many opposition supporters waiting only for election day to judge the regime. We have the upper hand in the justification. If it is unified, it wins.”
Low re-election turnout, which one is better
The results of the by-election on the 7th of next month are of great interest in that they have a great influence on the next year’s presidential election. However, it is unclear whether high interest will lead to actual voting. First of all, election day is not a public holiday. In addition, the voter turnout was not high in normal re-elections. Since 2000, the turnout for re-election of former regional heads has exceeded 40%. In 2012 alone, the 19th general election was held in the first half (59.14%) and the 21st presidential election in the second half (76.8%), recording a high number.
In 2011, the voter turnout for the’largest re-election ever’ caused by the resignation of the then mayor of Seoul at the time of Oh Se-hoon was the highest at 48.6%. Although the turnout was low, it was largely a defeat of the ruling party. In the second half of 2012, the Gyeongnam Governor’s by-election took place when Kim Doo-gwan, Gyeongnam Governor, resigned for the purpose of’running for the Democratic United Party’s presidential election.’ The ruling party’s Saenuri Party candidate Hong Joon-pyo defeated the opposition candidate Kwon Young-gil, which was the first ruling party’s victory after 2000 during the re-election of regional group heads.
However, unlike in the past, the ruling Democratic Party has virtually monopolized local power. It occupies 41 out of 49 members of the local parliament in Seoul, 24 out of 25 district heads, and 101 out of 109 city council members. On the contrary, the power of the opposition, the people, is evaluated that the organizational foundation has been greatly shaken by successive election defeats. If the turnout is markedly low, the basis for organized elections is completely different from the past. In June 2004, the turnout for re-election of regional group heads was only 28.5%.
Editorial Writer Choi Sang-yeon
