Is Party Democracy Pipe Dream?

In the 17th general elections in 2004, the ruling and opposition parties introduced a progressive bottom-up nomination process termed “the symbol of party democracy.” That process, however, has disappeared in this year’s elections.

This nomination procedure is a fundamental system for grass roots and party democracy because, in principle, it selects candidates through the voting of party members, delegates and citizens.

In 2004, out of 243 districts, the Uri Party (around 80 candidates), the Grand National Party (around 20) and the Millennium Democratic Party (around 70) selected candidates through this progressive method.

At that time, the academic and political world felt this marked a historical step forward in Korea’s political reform.

The reformed nomination procedure was considered a systematic way of limiting the influence of party leaders, as it rejuvenated democratic spirit within the party and reflected the voters’ will from the very beginning. The United States has an advanced party system and selects most candidates for political office this way.

In 2008, however, this method was not utilized in the GNP or the UDP. The nomination screening committee of both parties, which consists of around 10 members, is selecting candidates through document vetting and applicant interviews.

In the history of Korea’s political parties, the nomination system was top-down, controlled by an authoritarian party leader in an era of authoritarianism. In 2004, a partial bottom-up nomination process was adopted. But, now we are witnessing a top-down system once again. The difference between 2008 and the authoritarian past, is that the nomination rights are being shared between the nomination committee and party leaders.

Some analysts are already criticizing this as a retreat of party democratization, or a regression to the back-door nominations of yesteryear.

However, under the bottom-up nomination system, it is very difficult for newcomers to be selected, as it provides an insurmountable advantage to powerful entrenched politicos. Additionally, as many candidates rush to organize his or her supporting group and enlist genuine party members, side effects such as damaging party morale are hard to ignore. Another reason the bottom-up nomination disappeared this year, is that party leaders do not want to reduce their influence in the nomination process.

Some voiced concern that expanding the bottom-up nomination system is too early as the party democratization and its implementation in Korea are still premature. Despite this, many worry about discarding the bottom-up nomination system, which could potentially trigger the development and reform of Korea’s political system.

Kim Yeong-tae, a professor of Mokpo National University, said on March 21, “The reason snubbed candidates refuse to accept the nomination results and bolt from their party to run as independent candidates is because the nomination process was not democratic and transparent. If the bottom-up nomination system had flaws, the parties should have fixed what was wrong in a prudent manner. Eliminating the system completely means regressing to the past.”

jkmas@donga.com ditto@donga.com