The Light and Shadow of the People Power Party's Bold Experiment 'Matjang Debate'

Breaking Formalities: No Discussion Materials, No Dress Code, etc.
Debate Style Remains Old-Fashioned... Time-Wasting, Topic Shifting
1,000 Debate Judges... Reflecting Organization More Than Viewers

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Geum Bo-ryeong] The People Power Party is giving a fresh shock by introducing a 1:1 face-to-face debate format between candidates for the Seoul and Busan mayoral primaries. Despite the unconventional format, the debate content showed signs of repeating old habits such as changing the subject and stalling for time. Although a debate evaluation panel was also introduced, there are criticisms that organizational strength was confirmed more than debate performance.

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, and candidates for the Seoul mayoral primary attended the '1st Head-to-Head Debate for Changing Seoul' held at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 16th, posing for photos before the event started. From left to right: Joo Ho-young, Floor Leader; Oh Shin-hwan, preliminary candidate; Oh Se-hoon, preliminary candidate; Kim Jong-in, Emergency Response Committee Chairman; Na Kyung-won, preliminary candidate; Cho Eun-hee, preliminary candidate; Jeong Jin-seok, Nomination Committee Chairman. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

According to political circles on the 17th, the People Power Party is creating a sensation by staging a ‘3-No (無) Debate’?no formality, no debate materials, no dress code?with even a judging panel to decide the winner, which is unprecedented in previous primary debates. Since the debates were conducted in a one-on-one standing format, it was possible to increase concentration significantly.

However, there are also criticisms that the debate content was disappointing compared to the unconventional format.

For example, when issues about the realism or concreteness of pledges arose, there were several instances where candidates said, "You haven’t properly looked at my pledge," or diverted the topic by questioning the opponent’s pledges. Because the debate was conducted without materials and relied solely on memory, even objective facts like the housing supply performance during former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s tenure were brushed off with remarks like "The statistics seem different," evading the issue.

There were also cases where candidates spent time praising their opponents. Candidate Oh Se-hoon, in the latter part of the debate, praised candidate Cho Eun-hee for showing ‘genuine pro-people administration.’ The praise continued to the extent that Cho said, "The debate might feel boring." Afterwards, the two candidates spent the remaining debate time criticizing Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party primary candidate, eliminating the opportunity for direct competition between the candidates.

Although a system to judge the winner after the debate was introduced, doubts remain about whether it truly reflected debate performance. Immediately after the first round of head-to-head debates in Busan and Seoul, a ‘debate evaluation panel’ composed of 1,000 party members and citizens voted via ARS, selecting Park Min-sik and Park Hyung-joon in Busan, and Na Kyung-won and Oh Se-hoon in Seoul.

Regarding this, a representative from one election camp said, "Party members were recommended by the local party chapters and 1,000 were randomly selected from them," adding, "Non-party members could also participate, but each local party chapter chairperson knew who was selected, so it was essentially another party member vote." Another election camp said, "The camp asks the local chapters to apply and then selects from them, so the bigger the camp organization, the more advantageous it is," and added, "There are claims that evaluations were made without watching the debate, so rather than who performed better in the debate, this part is influenced by the camp organization and needs to be fixed."

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