Political Platform Flooding Local Elections, But Regional Policy Issues Lost

Even though the June 13 local elections is scheduled to start its official campaign on May 28 with the candidate registration, the original intention of the local elections, being a stage of confrontation between the policies and candidates eventually to select regional workers is bleaching since the central organs of the political parties, conscious of the presidential election to be held at the end of the year, are devoting in the political bickering.

Especially the political parties including the Grand National Party (GNP), the Millennium Democratic Party (DMP), the United Liberal Democrats (ULD), and others are perceiving the local elections as pre-games to the December presidential election, and are ready to mobilize the whole party leaderships in raising campaign issues of the political controversies including disputes on evaluation of the current administration, graft scandals involving the presidential family, boot dragging of the state affairs, and the controversy on encouraging regionalism. The inclination toward the political bickering is expected to deepen in the future.

Furthermore party platforms of the local elections formulated by the parties and the campaign platforms claimed by candidates have a considerable number of political promises that are not related with regional administrations.

For instance, nine sectors policy platform for the June 13 local elections announced by the ULD on May 23 has contained promises of a great alliance of conservatives, implementation of parliamentary political system, and introduction of the large electoral district system.

As the case abundantly shows, the local elections became a political election, and each party neglects the development of its regional polices, and rather tends to present rash promises of reissuing the previous platforms or summarizing the central government`s policies.

The realization of the education expenses increase to seven percent of the budget that advocated as one of the platforms of the June 13 local elections announced on May 26 by the GNP is doubtful in view of the reality of not even reaching five percent right now, even though the rulings and opposition candidates in the presidential election in 1997 promised to secure 6 percent of the budget.

Additionally, some doubt the intention of an establishment of a new `animal and plant fumigation agency` as it is a rashly made promise in view of mouth-and-foot disease recently occurred even though the GNP consistently offered the criticism on lack of `small government` in the current administration.

The major party platform for the local elections presented through `Peace and Leap forward`, a party paper, on May 23 by the MDP, is merely repeating and coming from the government`s implementation or a plan of policies.

`All-out expansion of free obligatory education to middle schools` is a governmental policy implemented beginning from this year on the first grade students of middle schools and announced last year by the Ministry of Education, and teacher`s salary hike promises of saying `to raise the compensation level to that of medium private enterprises` is also a frequent menu being presented by the MDP whenever the elections take place.

In other hand, the presidential candidates of the GNP and the MDP, Lee Hoi-Chang and Roh Moo-Hyun are scheduled to directly involve in the local elections campaigns and earnest supports for their candidates beginning from their constituencies, that is, South Chungcheong Province and Busan, respectively.

Chairman of the ULD Kim Jong-Pil will also stay in Chungcheong region during the election campaigning to `guard till dead the Chungcheong area.`

Young-Chan Yoon Sung-Won Park yyc11@donga.com swpark@donga.com