Campaigns of convenience

No TV debate, political jockeying baffle voters

With the presidential election just around the corner, Lee Ho-yeong, a 35-year-old college lecturer, remains confused.

Although he thinks it would be one of the most important elections in his life, Lee like many others is still wondering whether Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo can merge their candidacies and, if so, who will be selected as a single candidate between the two.

Park Geun-hye, the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, attends a forum organized by the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation in Seoul, Monday

More importantly, he has not heard much about what separates Moon, the candidate of the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), from the independent Ahn and the two from Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party.

“With no finalized lineup of candidates, no television presidential debates and no real discussions about policies, I am beginning to get concerned,” said Lee, who belongs to the age group that is regarded as liberal.

“The campaigns have been blatantly negative and most of the media coverage has been dictated by the single candidacy negotiations between Moon and Ahn,” he said.

The single candidate will be decided on by a public opinion poll that will follow a televised debate between the two that is expected to air on Wednesday. The last day of candidate registration is Nov. 26, which means voters will have just around 20 days to decide whether they trust Moon or Ahn over Park.

The main opposition Democratic United Party’s presidential candidate Moon Jae-in straightens his tie during a press conference in Seoul, Monday.

Perhaps, television debates would go a long way in clearing this fogginess by exposing the flaws in campaign promises and forcing candidates to be clear about what they are bringing to the fight.

But incredulously in this age of ubiquitous broadcasting and 24/7 media cycles, Park, Moon and Ahn so far have avoided a verbal contest in front of the cameras. This has much to do with Park refusing to accept a three-way panel with Moon and Ahn, preferring to wait until it becomes clear who she’s running against.

The 2002 election, won by the late Roh Moo-hyun, the last DUP candidate who managed to reach Cheong Wa Dae, produced more than 80 televised debates before poll day. The 2007 election, won by the Saenuri Party’s Lee Myung-bak, had about 50. This election has yet to produce its first.

Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo drinks tea during a press conference with the foreign press corps in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times

“How are we supposed to judge our candidates when the campaigns have excluded television debates? News conferences are like advertisements and it’s the television debates that produce something closer to the truth. You don’t buy a product just by relying on a commercial,” said Roh Jang-ho, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul.

“Aside of a few labor-related issues I am interested in, including the issue about democratizing the economy and improving work and pay standards for non-regular workers, I don’t know much about the campaign promises provide by the three candidates. We are forced to pick a candidate you like most and hear selectively what he or she says.”

Jeong Jeong-mi, a 56-year-old housewife, expressed cynicism about the efforts by Moon and Ahn to combine candidacies.

“Moon has announced himself as the candidate of the DUP and Ahn an independent runner, but I think it’s really funny that they are risking giving up their candidacies just to beat Park in the vote. I would prefer the candidates to put more value in their own beliefs,” she said.

“The competition in policies has also become meaningless. I think they are just peeking at what others are doing instead of coming up with their own ideas.”

Yu Hyun-sang, 37, a Korean national currently staying in New York, sounded like an undecided voter who was cringing about making a decision. He also wondered whether the dragged-out negotiations between Moon and Park and the questions about the chemistry between the two will result in a single candidacy that will be lesser than the sum of its parts.

“Park bothers me because she already talks and acts with entitlement, as if she is trying to succeed to a family business rather than win an election. But I don’t know if voting for Moon and Ahn would be defensible even if they agree on the single candidate between them,” he said.

“At least Park seems as if she is looking at this and that and trying to develop ideas and policies. However, it’s hard to have any confidence in Ahn after all the flip-flopping and maneuvering he showed in past months and Moon is still relying too much on the pro-Roh Moo-hyun fraction of his party, despite the ineptitude they displayed during that government.” <The Korea Times/Kim Tong-hyung>