Independent Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo’s party has suggested postponing the April general elections, which observers said was a strategy that would help his electoral chances despite its low feasibility.
In the best case, he may gain some time for his forthcoming centrist party to realign itself before the political race. Otherwise, he may at least distance himself from the leading parties — which have been under fire for failing to redraw the electoral map in time.
“With the constituency redrawing up in the air, preliminary candidates, especially political rookies, don’t even know where to conduct their campaigns,” Rep. Moon Byung-ho, vice chairman of Ahn’s party preparation committee, said Thursday in a radio interview.
“This is clearly discrimination, as incumbent lawmakers have a strong network in their conventional local districts.”
The close aide to Ahn also claimed that the current 45-day gap between the parliamentary election and the actual inauguration leads to an unnecessary legislative vacuum.
The party suggested postponing the election date from the current Apr. 13 by about a month, citing the need to guarantee the people’s right of choice and the potential candidates’ right to run for office.
The greatest beneficiary of the delay, should it be realized, would be Ahn’s People’s Party, which is scheduled to kick off officially on Feb. 2, just two months before elections.
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| Minister of Interior Hong Yun-sik (second from right) attends the opening ceremony of the fair election support center for the April parliamentary elections on Wednesday. Yonhap |
“This unprecedented invalidation of constituencies is largely attributable to the powerful bipartisan cartel and would never have happened had there been a vocal third party,” the party said earlier in a statement.
The party took aim at the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, which have failed to narrow their differences on the electoral map, eventually letting 246 constituencies lose legal effect from January. The debate was prolonged into an extraordinary parliamentary session last week, but with little to no result.
Despite their own doldrums, the major parties shrugged off the proposal.
“Ahn should first elucidate his stance on the constituency redrawing, instead of asking for an election delay,” said Saenuri chief Rep. Kim Moo-sung at the Supreme Council meeting Thursday.
The party’s secretary-general Hwang Jin-ha pointed out that postponing the election would violate the National Assembly act, which states that the parliamentary elections have to be held on the first Wednesday of the last 50 days of the current term.
Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the Minjoo Party, too, reiterated in a radio interview that elections have always been held on the scheduled day, even in wartime.
By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)
