Democratic Party's General Election Concept 'COVID-19 Response'... Moon Administration's Positive Ratings Soar Continuously

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] The Democratic Party of Korea has chosen the concept for the April 15 general election as the "Novel Coronavirus Infection (COVID-19)." This is interpreted as targeting the recent evaluations that the government is handling COVID-19 well, which has led to increased approval ratings for the Moon Jae-in administration.

On the 29th, Yoon Ho-jung, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, held a "Democratic Party Promotion & Campaign Concept Announcement Press Conference" at the National Assembly and said, "We will prioritize the full-scale response to COVID-19 as our top task." The election slogans were set as "Protecting the People! Democratic Party of Korea" and "We Will Definitely Win the COVID War." Additionally, "Don't Worry, Dear" and "United" were selected as the representative logo songs. Secretary-General Yoon explained, "We chose 'Don't Worry, Dear' as the representative logo song with the intention of overcoming COVID-19 together, and 'United,' which was created during the IMF crisis, as the second logo song." The promotional video also included the voice of Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party, saying, "We will definitely overcome COVID-19 to restore the daily lives of the people."

According to the Realmeter survey released on the same day for the fourth week of March, President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for state affairs (positive evaluation) rose by 3.3 percentage points from the previous week to 52.6%, maintaining above the 50% mark for seven consecutive weeks. This is the highest level in one year and four months. (Survey conducted from the 23rd to 27th among 2,531 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, 95% confidence level, sampling error ±1.9%p, response rate 5.6%) In the Korea Gallup survey released on the 27th, the positive evaluation was 55%, with "COVID-19 response" (56%) ranking first as the reason for the positive evaluation. (Survey conducted from the 24th to 26th among 1,001 adults nationwide, 95% confidence level, sampling error ±3.1%p, response rate 14%)

In this regard, a political circle official explained, "Generally, general elections held in the latter half of a government’s term have been unfavorable to the ruling party, but in this election, COVID-19 has emerged as an opportunity factor for the Democratic Party."

Secretary-General Yoon emphasized, "The April 15 general election will be a gateway to completing the Candlelight Citizen Revolution and moving toward a new future through the successful governance of the Moon Jae-in administration," adding, "It is also an unprecedented election held amid the COVID-19 crisis. Just as things changed before and after the Candlelight Revolution, we will elevate the status of the Republic of Korea after COVID-19."

The Democratic Party has set the campaign policy to be "online" and "quiet one-person campaigns" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Secretary-General Yoon said, "Offline campaigns will be conducted after April 5, when 'social distancing' ends, depending on the COVID-19 spread situation," and added, "According to the quiet campaign policy, only one candidate will campaign." He continued, "The core of offline campaigns will be quiet elections without rhythmic movements, unlike in the past," and said, "In the past, there were trot-style dance songs, but now it will be calm logo songs used for promotion with campaign vehicles." They also plan to actively conduct online election campaigns using social network services (SNS) such as Twitter, Facebook, KakaoTalk, and YouTube.

Regarding campaign support for the proportional representation coalition party, the Together Citizens' Party, he said, "All party officials and members of both parties, not just candidates, will be able to conduct joint election campaigns, and election campaigns hosted by parties rather than individuals are also possible," adding, "We are considering regional joint meetings and joint launch ceremonies."

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