GNP Hopeful Blasts Selection Process

Kang Jae-sup, new GNP Chairman, and Lee Jae-oh, GNP supreme council member, will have the second round of their “proxy war” before the presidential candidate race.

While the first round of proxy war was for the “leader of the party,” the second is expected to be about how to constitute a committee to manage the race for presidential candidate. Although Park Geun-hye, former chairwoman, won the competition for the “supreme manager” of the presidential candidate race, the committee, whose role is to check and balance, is still left to be constituted.

On July 18, Lee attended a supreme council meeting for the first time after the party leadership race. On July 17 before his return, he expressed his concern about the fairness of the presidential candidate race by saying, “I’ll carry in my heart the problems exposed (in the process of the party leadership race) such as malicious propagandas, a proxy war, and interference in the election.” It shows that he moved his offensive target to the race for presidential candidate.

Lee also argued, “There was a structural limit to a fair party convention as one person had been controlling the party and the supporters in charge of the central party and local branches for a long time. We first need to constitute a fair competition committee with those we can trust.” His underlying intention is to transfer the authority of presidential candidate race management to the committee.

Lawmaker Chung Doo-un, a close ally of former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak, added, “The question is how to fix the presidential candidate competition management system, which turned out to be partial. The solution is to constitute a fair competition committee with neutral persons. This committee may review the competition system itself.”

It means that the “rules of game,” including how to organize the electoral group, can be changed through the fair competition committee. According to the current party rules, the electoral group is constituted with 20 percent delegates, 30 percent party members, 30 percent general people, and 20 percent poll results. The ratio of party members and general people is half and half.

However, Chairman Kang thinks it is not the right time. He said, “We should focus on changing the constitution of the party. How to manage the presidential candidate race is to be discussed next year.”

Kang stressed, “My role is to whistle fairly when candidates are on the ring next year. I’ll referee impartial to any candidate.” He means to manage the competition himself.

Former Chairwoman Park’s allies responded they could not understand why the presidential candidate race was made a subject of discussion now. Lawmaker Yoo Jeong-bok, former chief secretary to Park, said, “One thing Park held fast to in her two year and three month chairwoman days is not to do ‘pedigree politics.’”

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com