Possibility of ‘big tent’ party diminishes
Can two Lees narrow gap in differing visions?
With only 70 days left before the April 10 general elections, the prospect of new political parties uniting under a “big tent” seems to be fading, as they are discovering more differences than commonalities.
In particular, discussions between the Reformist Party, led by 38-yearold Lee Jun-seok, and the Future Reform Party (tentative name), headed by 72-year-old Lee Nak-yon, appears to be stalled due to significant policy differences between the two leaders.
The older Lee, former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) formed an alliance with a splinter group of former DPK members, Sunday. They are planning to officially establish a new party, tentatively called the Future Reform Party, later this week.
Meanwhile, the younger Lee’s party, established on Jan. 20, is boosting its presence, especially after merging with Rep. Yang Hyang-ja’s Hope of Korea party on Jan. 24.
The Lee-Yang collaboration had raised speculation of the establishment of a big tent, including the merger of the Reformist Party and the Future Reform Party. But such a coalition remains unlikely.
“We are cautiously observing the situation, as we have not heard (from the Future Reform Party) about shared future visions,” Lee Jun-seok told reporters, Wednesday.
“It would be good if our future orientations align. However, we are approaching any potential merger or alliance very cautiously, being mindful of unfavorable outcomes that have occurred in the past when parties merged without reasonable justifications for an alliance.”
Rep. Yang of the same party also raised doubts whether the alliance would be realistically possible, saying, “Having gone through the merger process, the procedure is much more challenging than I had imagined, with numerous aspects to discuss.”
Political commentator Rhee Jonghoon speculated that discussions about an alliance are actively occurring beneath the surface, but the two Lees appear to disagree on the priority and policy visions of the potential merger.
“Lee Nak-yon would take a traditional approach to the party merger. If they were to really join forces, he wants clarity on how to distribute power within a single party. This involves determining how to pick the party’s proportional representation candidates and how to form the Supreme Council,” Rhee said.
On the other hand, the younger Lee’s focus is more on what policies and pledges the party should offer to the public.
“For Lee Jun-seok, his priority is to enhance the presence of his party by actively reaching out to the public through attention-grabbing pledges,” Rhee said.
Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University, commented that the younger Lee’s controversial moves could pose a hurdle to the merger. The Reformist Party recently introduced a series of contentious promises, including the abolition of the subway free-ride service offered to people over a certain age and the proposal to mandate military conscription for women seeking certain civil servant positions.
“For Lee Nak-yon, who wants to appeal to voters of all age groups and genders, Lee Jun-seok’s pledges, which are likely to cause generational and gender divides, make him reluctant to team up together,” Shin told The Korea Times.
Huh Eun-ah, a member of the Reformist Party’s Supreme Council, said that her party is actively discussing the formation of a big tent, refuting speculations that a coalition is unlikely.
“I personally view that the possibility (of joining forces) is over 90 percent. There are slight delays due to trivial reasons, as we need to convince the public on why we should go together,” she said in an interview with KBS, Thursday.