Voters most desire new politics, job creation: Dong-A poll site

The Dong-A Ilbo and sister TV network Channel A have asked voters what they want the most in the Dec. 19 presidential election and what they want to tell the two main presidential candidates.

Dong-A opened the Web page “I Am a Voter” (news.donga.com/2012president/promise) on the daily`s home page (www.donga.com) to enable voters to post comments and make suggestions on public policy and present views they wish to convey to the candidates. The page received 1,009 questions over a 60-day period from Sept. 26 to Nov. 24, or the day before the registration of candidates.

By category, the most desired (172 cases or 17 percent) by voters was political reform, which implied strong public distrust in conventional politics and probably led to the “Ahn Cheol-soo syndrome,” a phenomenon that swayed the presidential race.

Second on the list was job creation with 125 cases, third “normalization of education” with 85, fourth “realization of a welfare state” with 77, and fifth “resolution of social polarization” with 52.

Members of a review panel for the Web page said the suggestions could be considered the order of policy priorities for the next government.

Among all suggestions, panel members picked a suggestion by Kim Ju-gyu to “open Sejong Academy (Korean language institutes) in countries worldwide and use them to spread the Korean Wave and create overseas jobs for young job seekers.”

Others selected by the panelists included a request by Sohn Byeong-gap on requiring “candidates to prepare financial statements in politics that include a balance sheet of income and expenditures to prevent candidates from making populist election pledges.”

Another from Kim Yong-gil asked to “develop a tax-free savings account for college tuition for low-income families," and Goh Soon-cheol requested to “construct an international art village near the inter-Korean border area of the Hantan River.”

Park Myeong-ho, a political science professor at Dongguk University and a panel member, said, “We were surprised to see so many specific and reasonable ideas suggested based on their experiences,” adding, “If a system of constant communication in which suggestions and ideas are exchanged between political parties and the public such as ‘I Am a Voter,’ politics and elections will grow more mature.”

egija@donga.com