Kim Ki-hyun: "It's time for the anti-Moon coalition to build a 'Big Tent'... At least unify the candidates"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, emphasized the necessity of candidate unification, stating that "the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections are the right time to set up a big tent for the anti-Moon (反文) coalition."

On the 10th, through Facebook, Kim said, "The opposition coalition is not a matter of choosing whether to do it or not for regime change, but a matter of survival?whether to revive the country or let it perish."

He added, "If the People Power Party, as the senior member of the opposition, boldly opens its doors with a more inclusive attitude and reorganizes the broad anti-Moon political structure, I am confident that we can regain the people's love," pointing out that "Biden also won in an election framed as Trump versus anti-Trump."

Kim emphasized, "At this point, having fallen to a minor opposition party, we should not insist on pure bloodlines," and asked, "How can opposition candidates who will face a single candidate from the ruling party win if they are fragmented?"

He said, "Even if discussions on party unification are premature at the moment, at least the path to candidate unification must be opened before it is too late," and warned, "We must not forget the memory of the 19th presidential election where the combined vote shares of candidates Hong Joon-pyo (24.03%), Ahn Cheol-soo (21.41%), and Yoo Seung-min (6.76%) totaled 52.2%, but due to the failure of opposition unification, the regime was handed over to Moon Jae-in, who received only 41.08%."

Kim said, "Had anyone other than Moon Jae-in been elected, the country would not have been devastated like this," and added, "The best strategy is to create a framework that can bring all candidates onto the ring of the opposition coalition to maximize the multiplier effect."

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