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Kwon Young-se, interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), leaves the meeting room after attending an emergency committee and election management committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 7. / Source: Yonhap News

Following the breakdown of unification talks between ruling People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo and independent contender Han Duck-soo on May 7, the PPP leadership has proposed a roadmap involving a televised debate and a follow-up public opinion poll to determine a single conservative candidate.

PPP chief spokesperson Shin Dong-wook told reporters that this plan was shared with lawmakers during a general assembly at the National Assembly that day. “The two candidates met today with no results and are set to meet again tomorrow, but we cannot just wait passively for them to resolve this themselves,” Shin said. “We will proceed according to the roadmap we had initially prepared.”

He added that the leadership had confirmed a consensus among party members in favor of unification through an internal poll. “We will propose the originally scheduled TV debate for tomorrow, followed by a head-to-head opinion poll.”

However, Shin acknowledged that the plan could not be enforced unilaterally: “Whether the candidates accept this proposal or not remains to be seen. If they don’t agree, there’s nothing we can do.”

Still, Shin emphasized, “According to the roadmap, the TV debate must take place tomorrow at the very least. If the two candidates come to a mutual agreement during the process, the unification effort may move in a different direction.”

Regarding the method of the opinion poll, he said it would follow the primary rules used so far: “50 percent party member votes and 50 percent general public polling.”