hankyoreh

By Son Won-je, Staff Writer

Former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook was elected as Democratic United Party chairperson ahead of the April general elections and December presidential election. Han was chosen by the party with a 24.5% support rate at a leadership convention Sunday at the KINTEX convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi province.

The supreme council was elected at the convention through a citizen participation format. Han’s competitors were Moon Sung-keun, Park Young-sun, Park Jie-won, Lee In-young, and Kim Boo-kyum, who drew support ratings of 16.68%, 15.74%, 11.97%, 9.99%, and 8.09%, respectively.

Analysts said the selection of Han, who had been viewed as having an insurmountable lead early on in the contest, was a reflection of party members' and supporters' hope that she would provide stable management for the party during the upcoming elections. Han plans to build alliances within the party and with other parties.

In her acceptance speech, Han said, "In the name of the Democratic United Party and the 800 thousand citizens who took part in this election, I hereby declare a long march to victory that will put the Lee Myung-bak administration on trial for disregarding the people of South Korea."

Through victory at this year's general and presidential elections, we will put an end to the era of 'winner takes all,' special privileges, and violating the rules and create a country where the majority of citizens are happy," Han added.

Han also suggested she would pursue discussions toward an electoral alliance with the United Progressive Party ahead of the general and presidential elections.

The support ratings drawn by Han and the five other supreme council members chosen Sunday provide some clues about the future of the DUP, as their placement in the voting reflects the distribution of power within the party.

The most prominent characteristic of the newly formed leadership is the top placement of figures who had previously kept a distance from party politics. In some respects, this is a positive outcome for the party, which faces the immediate tasks of carrying out bold reforms and establishing an electoral alliance with the UPP. Observers said that if the sense of stability Han provides can be combined harmoniously with the reform push from Moon Seung-keun, it will be possible to bring about substantial changes while minimizing friction.

But some analysts commented that the two of them present risks with their lack of election experience and practical know-how demanded during a major election. Indeed, analysts said they may end up being influenced by presidential contenders with more political experience such as Sohn Hak-kyu, Jeong Sye-kyun, Chung Dong-young, and Lee Hae-chan, himself a former Prime Minister.

A second noteworthy outcome is the first and second place finish by figures who were very close to former President Roh Moo-hyun. Observers within the party were predicting that the presidential candidate will end up being Roh Moo-hyun Foundation chairman Moon Jae-in.

But the possibility of the party reins being taken over by pro-Roh figures presents something of a political albatross for the DUP. Observers are saying the ruling Grand National Party and the media that support it are very likely to try to paint the DUP as "the Roh party" or to drive a wedge between Roh's supporters and Kim Dae-jung royalists.

A third feature was the weak performance by candidates from the Honam region. Park Jie-won was initially eying the chairmanship before sinking into fourth place when he was implicated in convention violence and a last-minute money envelope scandal. Winning over Honam voters is now a difficult task that confronts the UDP in the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, with Moon and Kim ascending to the leadership from the Yeongnam region, the DUP gained an opportunity to broaden its regional support base.

Fourth, Park Young-sun, Lee In-young, and Kim Boo-kyum joined the supreme council as relatively young politicians aged 52, 46, and 54, respectively. Analysts are attributing this to the hope they offered for the DUP's future. The three figures are strongly expected to push for party reforms and reforms to the nomination process.

Han enjoyed a comfortable lead in support at the 20% to 40% level among delegates, citizen and party member electors alike. She also eased by the other candidates in mobile voting, opening up a margin of 3 to 8 percentage points over the second-place finisher.

Moon, who had been viewed as her stronger rival, failed to live up to expectations in mobile voting and enjoyed less-than-stellar support among delegates, leaving him in second place. Analysts said the Citizens' Unity Party may see a major drop in its power, with all other candidates from it besides Moon bowing out of the race

Park Young-sun was elected to the supreme council based on her strong mobile voting results. In addition to being recognized for the fresh perspective she offers as a former television personality, she developed greater name recognition through her racing against Park Won-soon around the Seoul mayoral by-election, which Park Won-soon went on to win. She also drew praise for her achievements as chairwoman of the party's policy committee. Analysts predicted that building organizational strength in the party would be her major assignment going forward.

Park Jie-won, who suffered a precipitous drop in support during the unification and election process after initially being talked about as a strong contender for the chairmanship, showed his firm organizational strength with a third-place finish in the delegate voting and put up a strong battle in the mobile and local on-site voting.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]