Seoul: A growing dispute between Han Duck-soo and Kim Moon-soo, the two leading presidential contenders of the conservative camp, is casting a cloud over conservatives' strategy to win the June 3 presidential election through a broad coalition challenging liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung.
According to Yonhap News Agency, under the so-called big tent strategy, the aim is to merge the campaigns of independent candidate Han and conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim before expanding the coalition to include former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, now the presidential candidate of the minor New Reform Party, and even former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who is aligned with the liberal Democratic Party but against its candidate Lee Jae-myung. The plan has hit a snag, however, as Han and Kim wrangle over the details of their merger, with three days left until the May 11 deadline for official candidate registration with the National Election Commission.
Han has insisted the merger should be completed by May 11 so that either one of them can run on the PPP's ticket without splitting the conservative vote. He has even pledged not to register his candidacy with the commission if the merger fails. Kim, on the other hand, has called for waiting until next week, saying they should first hold a televised debate on Wednesday and conduct an opinion survey from next Thursday to Friday to determine who is better suited to run on the PPP ticket.
While a meeting between the two ended without an agreement Wednesday, with another one scheduled for Thursday, the PPP has been piling pressure on its candidate to uphold his previous promises to swiftly seek a merger with Han. During a party leadership meeting Thursday, Rep. Kim Sang-hoon, the PPP's chief policymaker, highlighted the problems of merging campaigns next week.
"That would not be merging for No. 2," he said, referring to the ballot number that would be assigned to the PPP's candidate, given the party has the second-most seats in parliament. "Even if candidate Han were to win as a result of the merger process, we would not be able to execute the party's campaign funds worth billions of won," he added, referring to the funds reimbursed by the National Election Commission.
Kim's point was that if the merger comes after candidate registration on May 11, and Kim signs up as the PPP candidate, Han would not be able to run as No. 2 or receive campaign funds even if he later emerged as the party's single unified candidate. Despite Kim's protests, the PPP has vowed to go ahead with public opinion surveys on the favored unified candidate this Thursday and Friday. Should Kim refuse to abide by the May 11 deadline, it has floated the idea of replacing the candidate through a national convention.
Political pundits expressed concern the growing feud will only end up hurting the party. "Even if Kim and Han were to dramatically reach an agreement, that would not completely solve the problem," Mok Yo-sang, a standing adviser for the PPP, told Yonhap News Agency. "By stirring up trouble, they won't be able to move the people."
Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University, questioned the feasibility of a "big tent." "Right now, it looks like they won't even be able to build a 'small tent,'" he said. "Han has no ambition to grab power, while Kim has no urgency to merge because he can pursue the alternative of becoming party leader."