Hold Out Until the End Says Roh

“Be patient. Think long term. Stay alive with the spirit of the age. There will be a way out.”

That is the message that President Roh Moo-hyun tried to get across as a strategy for the presidential election through his New Year’s message to the ruling Uri Party and like-minded camps, which are currently in a chaos after a series of defections, said a ranking figure of the ruling party on Thursday.

“Why Not Overtake from Behind at the Last Minute?”-

President Roh said, “Back in the 2002 presidential election, I managed to become a presidential candidate on the Democratic Party ticket with an approval rating lower than five percent, but then the rating hit bottom before recovering in late October. So this time around, it’s possible for us to skip hitting bottom and soaring at the last minute,” Roh said. “Don’t give up on the party after a low support rating by leaving it.”

The remark reveals his calculation that throughout the previous presidential elections, the last candidates standing always boils down to one each from the ruling and opposition camps, which makes it plausible to send a single candidate from the ruling and like-minded circles in the last phase.

Thus, another chest-thumping remark that the election landscape can change at anytime is said to be coming. Scenarios for setting up a candidate through an open primary around October led by the pro-Roh faction within the ruling circles abound.

Roh’s remarks also seem to have taken into consideration the main opposition Grand National Party’s own timetable under which its presidential candidate is to be selected by June. What this means is that it is necessary to watch out for repercussions from a GNP race that is expected to be heated due to the participation of former Seoul City mayor Lee Myeong-bak and former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye.

Roh predicted that the top agenda for the presidential election will be the economy, and that differences between candidates should emerge through social welfare, democracy, human rights, and other historical issues. The president insisted, “The presidential election fronts should be drawn according to different candidates’ perspectives on issues, from which arguments would arise.”

That is a clear statement that shows his belief that presidential elections are about who possesses the spirit of the times, unlike general or local elections.

“At the end of the day, a presidential election will see a close call between the ruling and opposition camps,” said a key presidential official. “Therefore, as long as there is a candidate, an election machine will pop up.”

Some point out that the agenda Roh mentioned might be his suggestion for standards by which candidates should be selected out of the ruling circles.

“Controversy over Roh’s Meddling in the Presidential Election”-

The GNP has started an all-out offensive, calling Roh’s appeal for turning a blind eye to blunders by the Uri Party and supporting it a blatant election law violation. GNP spokesperson Na Kyeong-won said, “President Roh has rolled up his sleeves to jump start a sweeping election campaign in order to help the ruling party stay in power, and this apparently constitutes a violation of his political neutrality.”

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