To implement the system, rival parties should agree to revise election law: GNP


The ruling Grand National Party said it will introduce an “open primary” system that allows the general public participate in nominating candidates for April’s parliamentary elections.

A GNP spokesperson said the party’s emergency leadership council decided in its meeting Monday to choose 80 percent of the candidates through an open primary and the rest through an intraparty race.

As there are 245 total districts, this means the GNP wants to select candidates for 196 districts through an open primary and the remaining 49 through an internal race. An open primary allows all voters to cast their ballots.

The GNP had proposed a bill last year seeking to introduce an 80-percent open primary and a 20-percent party race nomination system.

To implement the system smoothly, both the ruling and opposition parties should come to an agreement to revise the election law, the GNP said.

An open primary invites citizens to participate in the nomination process, regardless of their support for any party.

The intraparty races are likely to be held in GNP strongholds, including the affluent Gangnam districts in southern Seoul and the southeastern Gyeongsang region.

The GNP bill also seeks the state funding of party race costs while the National Election Commission oversees a party convention.

To prevent citizens in support of a party from participating in its rival party’s primary and tactically voting for a weak candidate, the bill calls for each party’s convention date to fall on the same date.

The GNP also decided that they will not field a current GNP member in the party’s strongholds if he or she had been elected by the proportional representation system.

If a popular lawmaker holding a proportional representation seat wants to run for the April elections, the GNP will encourage him or her to run in GNP’s less popular regions, the party’s interim council said.

The GNP further decided to add 20 percent to the final vote of women running in party races to encourage women to join politics.

The GNP also decided not to adopt mobile voting, which was reviewed at the council’s meeting, due to the possible breach of the direct election principle.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)