An, Who Made a Unification Gamble, Proposes Seoul Mayor Unification Rules... "Let's Skip the Rule Battle"

Proposal to Revise the Unification Method with Oh Se-hoon
"Combine Polls Based on Both Suitability and Competitiveness"
Unification Negotiations: A Do-or-Die Gamble for the Survival of the People Power Party and the People Party

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Park Jun-yi] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party who officially registered for the March presidential election, has made a sudden proposal to unify candidacy with Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party. Ahn proposed using the same method as the Seoul mayoral candidate unification to immediately start discussions on unification without a ‘rule fight.’ As unification talks rise to the surface after the official election campaign begins, the ‘existence or demise’ of both parties in the unification has also come to the forefront.

On the 13th, Ahn held an emergency press conference and said, “For a better regime change, that is, for regime change, the end of the old system, and the path to national unity, I propose unifying opposition candidates.”

Regarding the unification method, Ahn proposed a public primary through opinion polls. He suggested using the opinion poll method employed during the April 7 Seoul mayoral election last year. He said, “There is no reason to discuss the unification primary method from scratch again,” and added, “If we respect the existing method agreed upon by both parties in the last Seoul mayoral by-election based on common sense, as Yoon suggested, it can be settled in a short time.”

Previously, in March last year, the People’s Party and the People Power Party engaged in brinkmanship negotiations over opinion polls to select a unified opposition candidate for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election.

At that time, both sides agreed to extract samples using 100% mobile phone surveys without landlines, and two polling agencies conducted surveys asking about ‘suitability’ and ‘competitiveness,’ then combined the results. This reflected the differing strengths of each side in suitability and competitiveness.

Ahn’s proposal is to skip the disputes over the survey targets and questions in this election and proceed directly with the Seoul mayoral candidate unification method.

This unification differs in that it begins after the official election campaign has started. As both sides enter the official election, they will incur enormous election expenses. Parties that receive more than 10% of the vote in the presidential election are reimbursed for election expenses, but if a candidate withdraws midway, there is no way to recover any election costs.

If both sides engage in unification and one side wins while the other loses, the losing side will not only have to withdraw their candidate but also face massive debts. This is why both sides engaged in brinkmanship over the unification deadline during the last Seoul mayoral election. The National Election Commission has set the election expense limit for this year’s presidential election at 51.39 billion won.

The unification deadline is expected to be around the 27th or 28th of this month. Unification must be completed before the printing of ballots begins to maximize its effectiveness. If unification occurs before then, the losing candidate’s name may be marked with ‘withdrawn’ on the ballot.

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