Ruling Party Tries to Shake up the Race by Highlighting "Lies," While the Opposition Continues to Call for "Judgment" on the Government

[경향신문]

Eyes on the Campaign: On April 5, two days before the Seoul mayoral by-election on April 7, citizens stand and watch an election campaign. National Assembly press photographers

The ruling and opposition parties are pouring in all effort as a final attempt to influence the outcome of the April 7 by-elections.

The ruling party filed additional reports on the opposition party’s mayoral candidates in Seoul and Busan and highlighted their “lies.” The opposition party argued, “The Election Commission recognized the Democratic Party of Korea as the party that reminded people of double standards or naeronambul (When I’m involved, it’s true love; when you’re involved, it’s an affair.)” and continued to call for judgment on the government and ruling party.

While experts expected that if voter turnout exceeded 50%, the election outcome would be favorable to the opposition party, both the ruling and opposition parties are being careful to make sure no unexpected factors emerge at the last minute to shake the election outcome.

On April 5, the Democratic Party focused on attacking the morality of the People Power Party candidates. This day, at a meeting of the party’s central election committee at the National Assembly this day, Lee Nak-yeon, head of the party’s election campaign attacked Oh Se-hoon, Seoul mayoral candidate of the People Power Party and said, “More decisive evidence has surfaced showing that he (Oh) was involved in the Naegok-dong land scandal.” A restaurant employee gave a statement that Oh was present when people came to measure the land in Naegok-dong in 2005, and the Democratic Party attacked Oh for being a “liar.”

This day, the Democratic Party filed additional reports on real estate allegations against Oh and Park Hyung-joon, the opposition party’s mayoral candidate in Busan. The Democratic Party members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council also said they would “promote a special committee for an administrative investigation” to identify the allegations surrounding Oh and how the land he owned came to be designated as a site for the Bogeumjari project, a public housing project. Meanwhile, the People Power Party emphasized the importance of a judgment on the government and ruling party. People Power Party floor leader Joo Ho-young mentioned how the National Election Commission banned the expression “naeronambul” and “Why are we holding the by-elections?” from placards and banners and said that the Commission “officially admitted that the Democratic Party was a political party that reminded people of hypocrisy, incompetence and naeronambul.”

The People Power Party actively defended its candidates against the Democratic Party’s accusations claiming that the ruling party was engaging in negative campaigning. The party’s emergency committee chair, Kim Chong-in criticized the ruling party saying, “The Moon Jae-in government has no achievements to promote, so they are only engaging in negative campaigning.”

The Democratic Party’s strategy is to weaken the argument calling for judgment on the government by questioning the opposition party’s morality, but its effectiveness is doubtful. According to a survey by Realmeter conducted on March 29-30, voters thought judgment on the government and a stable government (32.4%) was the most important issue to consider when deciding on a candidate, and morality (13.1%) as relatively less important.

The remaining variable is the final voter turnout. Lee Taek-soo, CEO of Realmeter appeared on CBS radio and said, “If the voter turnout surpasses 50%, the outcome will be in favor of the People Power Party.” There is a likelihood that voters in their twenties and political moderates, who have become the swing voters (undecided) in the upcoming elections, will not vote, so the lower the voter turnout, the better for the Democratic Party, which has a tighter organization of supporters. The ruling party argues that there are a lot of “shy progressives” and is calling for their supporters to gather. However, Justice Party leader Yeo Young-guk repeatedly announced that the Justice Party had no intention to support the Democratic Party, making it hard for the ruling party to expect votes from Justice Party supporters. The People Power Party is calling for the twenty-somethings and moderates to vote and express their anger. The Democratic Party’s campaign asking the people for “One More, For Love” and the People Power Party’s campaign of judgment on double standards clearly shows the situation the two parties are in.

Both parties are wary of unexpected variables, such as any rash words, up until the end of the election. It’s because comments like “The twenty-somethings have little experience of history” by Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party’s Seoul mayoral candidate, and “At the heart (of the Yongsan disaster) was resistance in the form of violence (by the people who were evicted),” by Oh Se-hoon could affect the election outcome in the last minute. The Democratic Party is concerned about the possibility of another negative issue like the real estate scandal. There is a strong mood in the People Power Party, which experts claimed lost in the parliamentary elections last year because of “reckless comments,” for members to watch what they say.