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Candidates from the progressive camp suffered a crushing defeat in Wednesday¡¯s presidential election. The aggregate votes of liberal candidates for the United New Democratic Party¡¯s Chung Dong-young, the Creative Korea Party¡¯s Moon Kook-hyun to the Democratic Labor Party¡¯s Kwon Young-ghil and the Democratic Party¡¯s Rhee In-je were less than 40 percent of votes.
Compared to the 2002 presidential election and the 2004 general election, the progressive camp was dealt a destructive blow. In the 2002 presidential election, candidates Roh Moo-hyun and Kwon Young-ghil won 52.4 percent of votes. And in 2004, the Uri Party, the Democratic Labor Party and the Democratic Party together scored 58.4 percent.
Political parties and progressive academics attribute the crushing defeat to the failure of the Roh Moo-hyun government, progressive candidates¡¯ inability to present their own unique policies and the camp¡¯s failure in fielding a single candidate. Prof. Im Hyug-baeg of Korea University said voters held progressive candidates responsible for the failure of the incumbent government.
Kim Hyun-tae, a close aide to Moon, said a conservative candidate was elected because voters distrust the current progressive government, not because of an increase in the number of conservative voters. Prof. Kang Won-taek of Soongsil University said, ¡°The disappearance of ideological issues like democratization left the progressive camp without an agenda to bring supporters together and put up a single candidate.¡±
Pundits say it remains to be seen whether progressive will overcome the current political crisis before the general election in April, although it will try to reconstruct itself through a change in policies and leadership. Lawmaker Oh Young-sik, a former democracy activist, said the progressive camp must review and overhaul itself. ¡°Progressive forces should set new policies and change the leadership,¡± he added. Prof. Im said the progressives need to counter the conservatives¡¯ growth-driven policy and set up a new progressive framework similar to that of former British prime minister Tony Blair, which is focused on protecting the weak and narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots. He forecast that whoever presents the new framework will emerge as the leader of the progressive camp.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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