[Editorial] Some Comments on Single Candidacy Talks

The election landscape is all the more uncertain as Roh Moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party, and his counter part in National Alliance 21 Chung Mong-joon reached agreement over the single candidacy issue. We make sure that the issue is only their business but the judgment whether it is right should be up to the public. Nevertheless, we cannot but point out that there are some problems in the procedure and condition surrounding the single candidacy.

First, deciding one candidate between the two in two different parties, which is unprecedented in world history runs risk of compromising the import of presidential election. Considering that opinion polls can change easily over time, picking one based on the results of them is somewhat like speculation. In that there is some gap between the two candidates’ campaign platforms, which cannot be narrowed, the candidate to be chosen in this way will have trouble in identity.

The two candidates should make their sincere efforts to reach a common policy approach for voters. If not so, presidential election based on different policies among parties will disappear.

Second, debate sessions on TV are highly likely to damage equality in the presidential race. It is because that the TV debates before the official start of presidential campaigns could be against the principle of equal opportunities in campaigning. Though candidates other than Roh and Chung are allowed to participate in TV debates, debates themselves could work against other candidates, thereby stirring up controversy.

Third, the condition in the single candidacy talks will remain a cause of political discord. Though we don’t know yet the terms behind the talks, there should be a kind of bargaining between the two candidates. As the alliance between the President Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil in 1997 has since continued to be at the center of political instability, the terms are certain to work as a political instability factor in the future.

The two candidates should keep in mind that the TV debates are closely related to the import and equality of the presidential race and the political situation right after the election.