Opposition parties reaffirm joint election campaign

Opposition parties reaffirm joint election campaign

By Lee Tae-hoon Leaders of two opposition parties Sunday expressed their resolve to abide by their early promise to launch a joint election campaign for the April 11 National Assembly elections, downplaying concerns over a rift in their alliance. “We’ve gone through a truly difficult and painful time,” Han Myeong-sook, chairwoman of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) said in a joint press conference with the minority Unified Progressive Party (UPP) “I have decided to push it because I firmly believe in the need to form an opposition alliance for the April 11 elections despite a flurry of furious reactions from our party.” The opposition coalition between the DUP and UPP faced a crisis last week after aides to Rep. Lee Jung-hee, a co-leader of the UPP, were found to have rigged a survey to win a primary. Lee voluntarily withdrew her candidacy Friday to take responsibility for the fraudulent primary as DUP lawmakers accused her of jeopardizing the opposition coalition for her own political purpose. “The opposition coalition has gotten off the ground after overcoming numerous challenges and hardships,” the UPP co-chairwoman said. “I’ll fight against those attempting to undermine the alliance.” Han and six senior DUP party officials as well as Lee and the three other UPP co-leaders will serve as the co-chairs of the joint election campaign committee, according to party officials. They said the two left-leaning parties have decided not to have a separate office for the committee’s headquarters, but launch joint campaign teams in major regional areas, while maximizing the use of social network service for inter-party cooperation and campaign rallies. Moon Jae-in, one of the strongest presidential contenders from the opposition block, arranged a meeting of Han and Lee last Thursday to salvage the alliance. The two parties had agreed to select and support unified candidates for the Assembly elections to increase their chances of winning more seats against the governing Saenuri Party.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr