Opposition parties clash over post-election strategy
The opposition political parties are clashing over how to set future strategies to join forces and counter the ruling bloc, with each highlighting their roles in the opposition bloc’s landslide victory in the April 7 by-elections. In the mayoral by-elections of the country’s two biggest cities, Seoul and Busan, the candidates of the main conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) won both positions, beating their rival candidates of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
The PPP’s victory in the Seoul mayoral by-elections came after its candidate, Oh Se-hoon, now the mayor of Seoul, became the single unified candidate of the country’s conservative opposition bloc by winning a public opinion survey against his rival, Ahn Cheol-soo, head of the minor opposition People’s Party.
The two conservative parties had earlier sought to merge in order to form a more solid “big tent” out of the conservative bloc, but this attempt was unsuccessful, as members of each party expressed different views on how to carry out the merger. While Ahn suggested that the two parties create a single new party, some influential figures of the PPP said that Ahn and other members of the People’s Party, which holds three Assembly seats, should join the PPP, which has 102 seats.
Such debates between the members of the PPP and the People’s Party have resurfaced after the PPP’s by-election victories against the DPK.
While members of the People’s Party attributed the PPP’s victory to Ahn’s push for a single candidate of the opposition bloc, some PPP members say that the PPP could have won even if the bloc offered more than one single candidate.
The parties are expected to announce their stances about the merger and other forms of cooperation soon. The PPP plans to collect opinions from party members in a meeting set for Friday, and the People’s Party will do so by early next week. Ahn said he believes a merger will be possible if the parties reach an agreement on the “primary” purpose, emphasizing the importance of the merger for the opposition bloc to win the next presidential election, set for March 2022.
Although the PPP won the by-elections by a landslide, their win is widely seen as the result of public anger against the Moon Jae-in administration’s failed real estate policies, as well as the land speculation scandals of employees of a state-run housing corporation, rather than a show of public support for the PPP itself.
In polls conducted weeks ahead of the by-elections, respondents said they would vote for the opposition bloc’s single candidate, whether it be Ahn or Oh, rather than for Park Young-sun of the DPK. Such polls showed increasing disapproval towards the ruling bloc, especially after the revelation of the speculative land purchase scandal involving employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), as well as some ruling bloc figures’ alleged improper real estate deals.
This situation could be favorable for the conservative opposition bloc, as there are only 11 months left before the next presidential election. The by-election results are seen as a barometer of public opinion, which has changed significantly since the DPK’s landslide victory in the 2020 general elections, in which the ruling party secured a supermajority of 180 seats in the 300-strong National Assembly.
But critics say it will be hard for the opposition bloc to keep the momentum of the boost it has gained through the by-election victory, if the merger fails to proceed.