NMDP Special Committee Collected Opinion “Presidential Election Runner Needs to Be Selected Early “

`The special committee for the development and reformation of the New Millennium Democratic Party (chairman Cho Se-Hyung)` conducted the first survey on 300 party staffs such as representatives, non-parliamentary heads of the party chapters and executive members. The majority of survey subjects answered that the presidential election runner should be selected before the local election.

The special committee members, who have continuously interviewed with the party staffs, revealed the majority opinions among the party members about the presidential election runner nomination issue yesterday. And the committee said that many responded that it would be appropriate to increase the number of delegates to 30,000-50,000. However, there were a lot of opposing opinions about the issues of the party leadership and the separation of the party president and the presidential runner.

One of special committee members explained that "as the party lost the centripetal force since President Kim Dae-Jung stepped down from the party head, we have actually witnessed the proliferation of the opinions that it would be inevitable to nominate the presidential election runner early. The survey just showed such a sentiment by figure."

The special committee plans to finish the first opinion collection until the beginning of next week and make a final decision about the time and style of the party convention in the beginning of next month through the workshop of party personages, interview with outside-party personages, and survey on the delegates.

Young-Chan Yoon yyc11@donga.com