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Grand National Party floor leader Ahn Sang-soo said Tuesday he felt the party¡¯s nominations for National Assembly seats were rather uninspiring. To inspire and move the hearts of the public, underprivileged people, innovative professionals, respected individuals and upright citizens should be nominated to run for the National Assembly. Just a day before, GNP chairman Kang Jae-sup had warned that some party officials in charge of evaluating nominees were unable to transcend factionalism in doing their jobs.
The reason the party¡¯s leadership has issued these warnings is because the process of nominating candidates for April¡¯s general election had not been progressing as the party had hoped. Rather than bringing in fresh and innovative talents, each faction within the party was busy trying to get as many of their own nominated.
Just after the presidential election, key members of the GNP had been crying out for reforms, starting from the people who will get the chance to run for the National Assembly under the party¡¯s banner. GNP lawmakers had vowed to show the world that the party was indeed changing, with the launch of the Lee Myung-bak administration heralding a shift in power for the first time in a decade. There were even forecasts that 30 to 40 percent of incumbent GNP lawmakers would be replaced.
But this atmosphere has evaporated so much that concerns are mounting that the GNP will fail to inspire voters. The party, which has selected nominees by region, has wrapped up about 40 percent of its nominations. Each time nominations were announced, the GNP was only concerned about whose side he or she was on, Lee Myung-bak¡¯s or Park Geun-hye¡¯s. Factional feuds are a part of politics. But this feud was more visible, since it also involved a clash between the heavyweights over control of the party. And while this was taking place, each faction began a campaign to nominate their own people, saying they were close to whom, or was related to whom. This led to a race among different factions to get their own slice of the nomination pie. Any semblance of reform within the party had disappeared. Things must have gotten pretty bad considering the party leadership had to issue warnings.
This side of the GNP contrasts with what is going on at the United Democratic Party, where the head of nominations has announced that any lawmaker connected to an unlawful act or graft will be banned from running. A party¡¯s will to reform itself can¡¯t be judged simply by the number of incumbent lawmakers it drops from the list of nominations; but for the GNP, which has become the ruling party, the present nomination process selects National Assembly candidates who will support President Lee Myung-bak during his five-year term. The public is watching this process: the GNP had better shape up.
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