[Opinion] Preliminary Elections Must Not Seek Quick-Fix over Quality

Every four years, the state of New Hampshire in the U.S. with its population of 1,100,000 becomes a mecca for politicians during the month of February. All the presidential candidates gather in the state to make their waves in the preliminaries for the presidential elections. The quiet and quaint towns change into an epicenter for presidential trail blazing.

As the population of the state is so small, the candidates` campaigns remind us of our local canvassing. There is so much commotion that it almost appears as if the reporters outnumber the voters. Independents who throw themselves into the race without even official headquarters usually number between 60 to 70 people.

The reason why these presidential hopefuls flock to New Hampshire for the beginning of the preliminaries is because a good showing here means that their names will be broadcast across the nation. This in turn leads to a great amount of campaign donations and number of supporters. Democratic Party`s Jimmy Carter (76) who was relatively unknown, Republican Ronald Reagan (80), Democrat Bill Clinton (92) all got the leading edge in the New Hampshire preliminaries and successfully secured their place in the White House.

The American preliminaries formed out of the protest of regular members of political parties who opposed decisions made in secret chambers by the executives of the ruling party or the representatives of different parties. The first place where preliminary elections were held was Florida in 1904, and it was moved to New Hampshire in 1952. It was, however, the year 1968 when the preliminaries became a permanent part of the American political landscape due to the Democratic Party`s influence in elevating its importance. There were many twists and turns before it became such a permanent fixture.

In recent years, many have pointed out the weaknesses of this system. A phenomenon of pushing up the election date in various states is happening because many states want to increase their influence in electing a candidate. This is the so-called `Super Tuesday` election. 11 states in both the south and north participated in this election in last year`s March 7. Such developments have weakened the original purpose of preliminary elections which provides a six month period for the voters to carefully review the likely candidates before the official party nominations in July or August.

There is also the criticism that the process of nominating a presidential candidate is neither universal nor determined by regular voters, but rather by special interest groups or classes. After all, only those who are influential party members or ideologically fervent individuals participate in the preliminaries. Although the system of preliminaries allows party members or regular voters to participate widely in the process of selecting a candidate and opens the way for new political leaders to enter the arena, the system still requires augmentation.

The Millennium Democratic Party, which President Kim Dae Jung left as its president, seems ready to introduce such preliminary election system that will allow voters to participate more fully. When we think about the one-man politics, politics behind closed doors, or `gymnasium` politics, such a system can be beneficial to our current political structure. Yet, we have to consider the reality. Preliminaries every couple of months in a small country like ours will probably create a whole lot of local strife, money or rigged elections. There are already enough events that turn into disasters even when major party leaders attend them. What will presidential campaigns look like if regular voters also attend and they occur regularly over a short span of time? People will undoubtedly say that the presidential hopefuls will come to ruin in the campaigning process, never mind the actual elections.

Moreover, the motivations behind MDP`s proposal is not all that pure. The plan resembles a desperate attempt to survive rather than a grand plan for politics. Those politicians who want to run for the presidency are more interested in the prize than a fair game. Will they really observe the rules of such a preliminary with all its loopholes?

The U.S. system of preliminary elections in which the voters directly nominate the candidates sounds good in theory. It is, however, not at all clear whether the politicians will be able to draw the voters` interest when they are actively ignoring the political sphere. Even the U.S., whose political culture is much more advanced than ours, took sixty years to establish the preliminaries firmly. Implementing such a system in couple of months will inevitably create all kinds of mishap and unseemly consequences. Who is going to take responsibility then?

The MDP has to contemplate with a bit more sincerity a preliminary election system that will truly advance politics. To hastily put out the preliminary card with a view to next year`s presidential elections amounts to nothing but an attempt to bewilder the public.

Nam Chan-Soon chansoon@donga.com