Difference on Primay: Biggest Huddle between Roh and Chong

On Nov. 8th, the Roh Moo-hyun camp and the Chong Mong-jun camp commenced, in earnest, the negotiations for putting up a single presidential candidate of their parties in the upcoming election. Currently, Roh is the presidential candidate of Millennium Democratic Party, while Chong of People`s Unity 21.

Roh reportedly told his negotiation team, "I will accept even the terms that may not favorable to me." He also said at the opening ceremony for a local campaign headquarters in Incheon, which was held at the guest house of Royal Hotel in Incheon, "I have hesitated toward unification due to the differences of values and policies, not to the possibility I may have to yield to him in the primary. I will play a fair game with Chong." His remarks indicate his strong will to put up a single candidate.

On the other hand, Chong said in a TV debate held in Busan, "I don`t care much about the way of selecting a single candidate. As long as the public wants and the method is reasonable, I will do anything."

Both camps have shown their willingness to unify the candidates more than at any time before. But, they are still at odds with each other regarding the fundamental question of "Who should be the unified candidate?" and the timetable for the selection process.

The Roh`s camp has proposed that both, Roh and Chong, carry out the primary campaigning by means of the TV debate for one week from Nov. 10th, as long as both agree to the unification itself by that time. Then, sometime before Nov. 17th, the vote should be simultaneously cast nationwide, using the electronic ballot.

The Roh`s camp shows flexibility as to details insofar as the candidate unification entails TV debates and the primary procedure. Thus, the Roh`s camp says it could agree to lowering the percentage points of voters to participate in the primary down to 50% of the total registered. On the contrary, the official position of the Chong`s camp is "possible to discuss, but impossible to accept" the primary.

People`s Unity 21 is leaning toward other approaches to selecting a unified candidate such as selection based on the opinion polls, on the confidence vote by equal number of representatives from both parties, or on the vote by electoral colleges that will be composed in each region in such a way as to take in factors like gender, age, and the population of each region.

In addition, considering Roh`s position, Chong`s camp is reportedly considering a mixture of the primary and the opinion poll as well. The results of their own analysis show that Roh`s supporting rate has caught up with Chong`s in that mathematically, it is impossible to say that Chong is really leading the race against Roh. But the Chong`s camp believes that TV debates could serve an opportunity for Chong, not Roh, to get ahead.

Roh also suggests that two parties merge with each other and then wrap up the TV debates and the primary prior to Nov. 27th. But, the persistent position of Chong`s camp is against the idea of the party-merger itself.

Their differences are not limited to that. As to the timetable for the unification, Roh argues, presupposing the primary, that all negotiations be wrapped up before Nov. 18th, the deadline after which the law prohibits any political rally hosted by a political party. On the other hand, People`s Unity 21 wants to wrap up the negotiations before Nov. 17th, indicating that the primary is not in their mind.

Furthermore, as to who should conduct the negotiations, People`s Unity 21 wishes to include, in the negotiation process, the members of the Council for Unification of Presidential Candidates, who defected from Millennium Democratic Party. But, the Roh`s camp opposes their participation.

Sung-Won Park Jeong-Hun Kim swpark@donga.com jnghn@donga.com