Calls growing within PPP to unify opposition presidential candidates

Feb 08, 2022, 08:57 am

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Ahn Cheol-soo (left) of the People’s Party and Yoon Seok-youl (right) of the People Power Party greet each other ahead of a TV debate in Seoul on Feb. 3, 2022./ Source: National Assembly Joint Press Corps

AsiaToday reporters Lee Wook-jae & Lee Yoo-jin

Discussions about unified candidacy are rapidly rising within the main opposition People Power Party and minor opposition People’s Party ahead of the presidential elections just a month away. While even a “top-down approach” scenario, where the two candidates go under negotiation, is being discussed, some point out that politicians are focused only on winning votes while putting aside policy discussions.

PPP election committee head Kwon Young-se on Monday kept the door open to the possibility, apparently reversing his earlier statement that calls for a single candidate were mere personal views. In a press interview on the same day, PPP candidate Yoon Seok-youl said that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of unified candidacy.

Calls have been mounting inside the PPP since the Lunar New Year holiday to unify opposition candidates. In a press interview on Sunday, Won Hee-ryong, the policy chief of the PPP’s presidential election committee, suggested the 17th, the deadline for candidate registration, as a deadline for unification negotiations. PPP lawmaker Lee Yong-ho said he believes some 90 percent of party members agree on the need of unification.

However, the idea has come up against opposition. “It was inevitable, but is hopeless to see it real,” said Kim Chul-geun, the head for PPP’s political affairs and an aide to PPP leader Lee Jun-seok. “(The unification) is just a modified expression of the anti-Moon solidarity. We should solidify generational unity and focus our efforts on expanding a new support group,” Kim said.

There is a mood change in the People’s Party as well. “To me, making this issue public itself lacks sincerity,” said People’s Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo. However, the party’s standing election committee chairman Choi Jin-suk has left the possibility of unification negotiations open, saying, “Politics is a living thing. The most important thing to consider is what the people want.”

Both parties are considering unification, but they are apparently not fully revealing their true intentions because if they approach the matter prematurely, they could lose their initiative. “Yoon’s side apparently wants unification through negotiations, but Ahn would be difficult to accept it because he is not left behind in terms of suitability of candidates,” said Kim Hyung-joon, a politics professor at Seoul’s Myongji University.

In the meanwhile, there are voices calling for focus on the people’s livelihood amid the omicron surge. In addition, some expressed concerns of losing the power for regime change if unification talks are prolonged.

#unification #PPP #Peoples Party