Situation reversal to South Korea presidential. Conservatives give up their own candidate in favor of a new party in the party
Han Duck-SOO, former South Korean Premier Photo: Chris Jung / Nurphoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
Conservatives in South Korea gave up on their presidential candidate on Saturday and reopened the nomination process, after the former prime minister decided to join the party to face the liberal candidate in the elections that will take place in just four weeks, reports Reuters, taken over by News.ro.
The People's Power Party announced that its management forum has decided to cancel Kim Moon-Soo's nomination and to organize a new internal vote for its replacement with the former prime minister Han Duck-SOO, whose late entry derailed for the party candidate for the presidential vote on June 3.
Entry of the former prime minister
The candidate of the Democratic Party (of liberal orientation), Lee Jae-Myung, is clearly favorite for the replacement of former conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was dismissed in April for violating his duties after shortly declared in December.
Kim, who was selected as a candidate of conservatives in a party convention a week ago, resisted the pressures from the party to be aside in favor of Han, who refused to participate in the nomination process while he was still as prime minister.
Kim says he is the only legitimate candidate in a democratic process. He filed a prohibition request to prevent the party from reopening the nomination process, but it was rejected by a court on Friday, opening the conservative path to organize a new vote this weekend.
Kim said on Saturday, in a press conference, that the party's decision was a “political coup” and accused of violating internal procedures by replacing it. He promised that he would respond with legal and political actions. “Last night, democracy within our party died,” Kim said. “Those responsible for this situation will be held legal and politically held,” he said.
The Party of the People's Power defended its actions, stating that it had no alternative after the two candidates failed to unite around a single option. “We have established that a unified candidacy by agreement was no longer possible, so we had no choice but to continue with the necessary steps and administrative procedures,” said Kwon Young-se, the head of the committee for the party's emergency responses. “We deeply regret that it has come here, but it was inevitable. We believe there are no legal problems,” he added.
Kim's campaign said he had filed an additional request in court to prevent the party from canceling his candidacy, on which the court was going to rule on Saturday.
A new vote inside the party
Party spokesman for the power of the people, Shin Dong-Uk, said that the party members will vote on Saturday between 10.00 and 21.00, whether or not they approve Han as a candidate, and the party officials will meet later on Saturday and Sunday to confirm the results.
The party said he hopes to finalize his new candidate before the official registration of the candidates by the National Electoral Commission will end on Sunday.
Han, who joined the party the power of the people on Saturday, after resigning from the position of prime minister a week earlier, was also interim president after the removal of Yoon. He said that his long -term public service makes him the right choice to lead the country to approach the economic, commercial and diplomatic challenges.
The dispute between the two potential candidates cast a shadow on the already difficult struggle of the Conservative Party to keep the presidency, while the political debates passed in the second plane.
The Liberal leader has begun to present proposals for business policy and national security initiatives on the military threat of North Korea.
In opinion polls, both Han and Kim are far behind Lee, the candidate from the Liberal Party, with a margin. In the scenario of a two -way race, Lee has 44% support compared to 34% for the inn, while Kim leads him by 43% compared to 29%, according to a national barometer survey published on Thursday.
