[Editorial] Not Priority for the New Administration to Win General Elections

It is natural for the president-elect to hope that the ruling party should win the general elections. The president-elect’s desire for the ruling party’s wining the general elections may be desperate at a time when the opposition Grand National Party controls the National Assembly. Is it appropriate for the new administration to be seen that it prioritizes wining the general elections among other things. However, the new administration should bear in mind that if it puts too much emphasis on the ruling camp’s victory in the upcoming general elections and does whatever it may takes, there is a possibility that the relationship between the ruling and the opposition parties will be ruptured and domestic political affairs will be derailed.

In this context, it is difficult to sympathize with president-elect Roh Moo Hyun’s remarks of being a “half-president” if the ruling party fails to win the general elections at a meeting of the Millennium Democratic Party members. He said that sometimes he wonders whether he is a president-elect or half-president-elect. If the MDP fails to clinch a victory in the general elections, he will be reduced to a half-president and assumes only half of the power. It is quite understandable that the president-elect made such a remark with the intention of placing a considerable emphasis on the efficient operation of the administration. However, such a remark is not appropriate for the president-elect to make.

First of all, the president-elect seems that he fails to resist a temptation of conducting politics in which the majority ruling party can take all. In addition, there is a possibility that his willingness to promote bipartisan politics will invite public suspicions. It is lamentable that the president-elect’s remark drew much criticism from the opposition GNP and as a result, there are signs that long-awaited reconciliatory mood in the Korean political community is likely to be ruined.

In particular, the remark, “half-president,” may put too much pressure on the political community that political parties should clinch a victory in the general elections by mobilizing every possible means, along with his envisioned idea to adopt a French style dual executive system in which a majority party can name prime minister. In spite of the president-elect camp’s denial, his remark hinted a government-led political reorganization in a foreseeable future. In addition, the incoming government’s reform programs can not enlist full supports from the public because they may be regarded as part of publicity campaigns to win the general elections.

President is not the representative of a certain political party, but that of the Korean people. However, his remark can be interpreted that he will discuss domestic political affairs only with a certain political party, or the ruling MDP, given the fact that he said if the ruling MDP fails to win the general elections, he will be reduced to a half-president. President-elect Roh Moo-hyun should be free from the obsession with the ruling MDP’s wining a victory in the general elections. Instead, his priority is to realize his pursuit of politics of persuasion and of compromise without fail by building sound relationship with the opposition party, regarding it as a partner, not as an obstacle to address domestic affairs in the National Assembly where the opposition party controls as the majority party.