Can two meet midway point?

Moon Jae-in

The main opposition Democratic United Party’s (DUP) Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo agreed Sunday to launch a consultative body to discuss methods to choose a single liberal presidential candidate.

Ahn, who originally adhered to the position that political reform measures should be agreed to before launching talks on candidate unification, has shifted position as he thinks any further impasse will only darken the prospects for a single candidate, according to Park Sun-sook, head of his election camp.

Despite the progress, questions still remain as to whether the opposition candidates can successfully achieve their goal ahead of the candidacy registration deadline Nov. 26, to compete against the ruling Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye in the December election.

Ahn Cheol-soo

Various surveys show that the two liberals will lose to the conservative Park if they decide to run separately in the Dec. 19 poll.

Some raise the possibility that the two will fail to agree on how to select a single contender, leading to the eventual breakup of the proposed alliance.

“Opposition supporters believe Moon and Ahn should unite their candidacy but the actual players don’t think of it that way,” Shin Yul, a politics professor from Myongji University in Seoul, told The Korea Times. “If either side is trailing by a margin of 15 percent in terms of popularity, the alliance could proceed smoothly. But unification is hard when the candidates are neck-and-neck.”

The professor said the two sides would have a “hard time reaching consent on the method of candidate selection.”

“If Moon loses to Ahn, the DUP would dissolve,” Shin added. “Moon and Ahn, at this point, cannot think of anything else but unifying under its flag. They will fight to adopt a selection method favorable to them.”

Methods of selection currently being talked about are opinion polls, approval from a panel of experts and nationwide primaries.

Moon reportedly wants to conduct nationwide primaries since he is backed by a political party which enables him to mobilize its apparatus and supporters across the country.

Ahn, on the other hand, allegedly prefers opinion polls which he leads by a slim margin in various surveys.

Experts say the wording to be used in the envisioned survey would also be a matter of concern for the two candidates.

Various polls show Ahn is preferred in terms of competitiveness to beat Park in the upcoming poll, whereas Moon is preferred in terms of stability in running the country.

Meanwhile, the two candidates also agreed to launch two additional consultation bodies to arrange joint policies on the economy and welfare, and foreign affairs and security, besides the ongoing talks for a joint declaration on political reform.

“The top priority for the next president is the economy, security and political reform,” Ahn said. “The two sides should begin talks on a joint declaration on the economy and security as well.”

Furthermore, the entrepreneur-turned-politician proposed Moon and Park voluntarily cut election expenses in half as an effort to revamp the public image of old-fashioned politics.

“I promise to run my election campaign at half the 56 billion won the law allows,” Ahn said. “It is a good way of showing the public how the political scene has changed. I hope the other two candidates will accept that proposal.” <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>