Ahn Cheol-soo joins forces with United Future Party for April 15 elections

Ahn Cheol-soo, head of the minor opposition People’s Party, said on Friday that his party will not nominate any candidate in 253 constituencies across the country for the April 15 general elections. He asked voters to pass judgement on the Moon Jae-in administration by casting a vote for candidates from the opposition parties if they think the country should not go this way.

The People’s Party, however, plans to field proportional representation candidates. The move can practically be considered as a coalition between the People’s Party and the United Future Party as the former gave up fielding candidates in constituencies in order to avoid vote splitting.

“The People’s Party will pioneer the road of practical moderation by fielding only proportional representation candidates with an aim to bring innovative competition between all political parties and encourage competitive policies,” Ahn said during an emergency press conference held at the National Assembly on Friday, Ahn said. “I am confident the decision will help the opposition camp achieve a victory at the upcoming general elections.”

Speaking to reporters after the press conference, Ahn explained the rationale behind the decision, by saying, “The decision is to stop the incompetence and recklessness of the incumbent administration.”


Jun-Il Kim jikim@donga.com · Ji-Hoon Lee easyhoon@donga.com