Three Challenges Facing Deobureo Simindan: Legitimacy, Verification, and Popularity

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Bitter criticism toward the proportional representation alliance party 'The Together Citizens Party,' led mainly by the Democratic Party of Korea, continues unabated across both ruling and opposition parties. Along with this, pressing challenges such as the tight schedule for verifying proportional representation candidates and issues regarding ballot order are piling up, forecasting a turbulent path until the general election.

On the 20th, Kang Chang-il, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said at a joint meeting of the COVID-19 National Crisis Overcoming Committee and the Election Committee held at the National Assembly, "Not only our party but other parties as well face even more severe scrutiny, but I hope our party pays special attention," adding, "There should be no actions that cause public disapproval." This was aimed at the recent controversy that arose during the Democratic Party's launch of the proportional representation citizens' alliance party, 'The Together Citizens Party.'

Originally, the Democratic Party was discussing an alliance party with the 'Political Reform Alliance (Jeonggaeryeon),' mainly composed of senior members of civil society, but suddenly joined hands with 'For the Citizens.' This has led to criticism that they allied with pro-Moon Jae-in and Cho Kuk factions, along with backlash from Jeonggaeryeon. Additionally, controversies continue surrounding the sexual harassment records and historical perspectives of minority party leaders participating in The Together Citizens Party.

Ha Seung-soo, executive director of Jeonggaeryeon, also criticized Yang Jeong-cheol, head of the Democratic Research Institute who played a key role in planning The Together Citizens Party, on his Facebook, calling him "the worst of the deep-rooted evils" and saying, "It is a mess because such a person is acting as a power broker in the ruling party."

He continued, "Even senior Democratic Party members seem to be wary of Yang Jeong-cheol. He is a political evil that must be eradicated," adding, "It is a reality that a person who cannot even properly plan an important alliance party and spreads slander against senior democracy activists wields more power than the ruling party's presidential candidate (Lee Nak-yeon)."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Despite such criticism, The Together Citizens Party has officially begun the proportional representation candidate nomination process. The party completed the formation of the Public Office Candidate Recommendation Management Committee on the day and plans to receive candidate recommendations from participating parties. Minority parties will recommend at least three candidates ranked in order, and the committee will finalize about one to two candidates per party. The vacancy caused by the Justice Party's absence is planned to be filled with citizen-recommended candidates.

The problem is time. Proportional representation candidates must be finalized before the registration dates on the 26th and 27th. With only about a week left, there are concerns that thorough verification is limited. Previously, despite the Democratic Party's lengthy efforts to recruit talent, controversies related to recruited figures such as Won Jong-geon’s Me Too allegations and Professor Choi Hye-young of Kangdong University’s government subsidy fraud accusations have not ceased. A political insider analyzed, "If a hasty verification process occurs during nominations, there is no guarantee that unfortunate cases like those involving Democratic Party recruits in the past will not happen again."

Raising the 'ballot order' is also a challenge. The Future Korea Party, the biggest competitor to The Together Citizens Party in proportional votes, increased its number of incumbent lawmakers from six to ten. This happened as lawmakers Won Yoo-chul, Jeong Gap-yoon, Yeom Dong-ryeol, and Jang Seok-chun left the United Future Party the day before to join the Future Korea Party to manage the aftermath of the 'nomination turmoil.' In other words, to receive a ballot number ahead of the Future Korea Party, more than ten incumbent lawmakers must move to The Together Citizens Party, but the Democratic Party’s 'lawmaker lending' efforts are not going smoothly. Although Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan personally attempted to persuade lawmakers who are not running for re-election, many reportedly declined citing personal convictions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.