Moon`s irrational proposal for public survey on endorsement of PM nominee

On the endorsement issue of Prime Minister Nominee Lee Wan-koo, New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) Chairman Moon Jae-in made a proposal on Friday to the presidential office and the ruling party, saying, “If the ruling party regards the NPAD’s demand (for voluntary resignation of the PM nominee) as political offense from the opposition, let’s conduct a joint public opinion survey on the endorsement.” He said the public want to have an elegant prime minister befitting the class of our nation. Although Moon is making a pretext of the public, it is easy to see what is behind the proposal. Coincidentally, a poll conducted by Gallop Korea announced on the same day showed that negative opinions on the endorsement of prime minister nominee Lee (41 percent) outnumbered positive responses (29 percent). Moon`s proposal of the joint public opinion poll appears to be a cowardly ploy to cover up the lack of leadership as he can neither stand up to the public sentiment of the Chungcheong region wanting to have a prime minister from Chungcheong nor make a responsible decision.

If such a matter of great importance as endorsement of prime minister is determined by the public opinion, why do we need political parties, or what does the National Assembly exist for? The modern nation takes the representative democracy as fundamental principle for the governance. Unlike ancient city states that existed several thousand years ago, direct democracy is neither feasible nor appropriate for the modern day nations. “By the same token (as what Moon said), would it be okay to dissolve the Assembly if we have a national public opinion survey office?” said an opinion survey expert criticizing Moon’s remarks.

All the authorities and procedures whereby a prime minister candidate is nominated by the president, endorsed by the parliament and appointed as prime minister are all based on the Constitution and the National Assembly Law. Given his background as lawyer and experiences of running for presidency, it is too careless for Moon to make such remarks that have ignored the Constitution and legislation as the leader of the main opposition party holding 130 seats in the Assembly.

The NPAD agreed with the ruling Saenuri party two days ago to hold a vote for endorsement of the PM nominee Lee on next Monday. Based on the common sense, the main opposition’s agreement to the endorsement vote is interpreted as an agreement to follow ordinary endorsement process in the Assembly. Moon reversed the consensus overnight, however, and his remarks are also against the political morals. Vote to endorse a PM nominee is the right and duty of a lawmaker. Lawmakers may choose to give up or oppose, but they should not stop other party members from voting.

Respecting public opinions is one thing, and determining an important matter of the nation by public opinion is another. Not a few critics say that determining candidates for presidential election even may weaken the party politics. If following Moon’s suggestion, other pending issues that the opposition party does not like to deal with, such as the public servant pension reform, can be determined by the public opinion poll. How can he explain the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and construction of the Navy base in Jeju Island, which the public was for but the opposition party was against? Rather, why doesn’t Moon put his legitimacy for being the opposition party chair to a public opinion survey?