GNP, DUP to apply stricter ethical standards to court disenchanted voters


Rival parties on Friday set in motion their candidate screening process for general elections slated for April 11 after finishing organizing their respective committees to lead the crucial nomination procedures.

The ruling Grand National Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party are poised to apply stricter ethical standards to put forth competitive candidates as they step up efforts to appeal to disenchanted voters.

The ruling party, which decided to change its name to Saenuri on Thursday as part of reform efforts, announced on its website that it would start accepting applications from those wanting to run for parliamentary seats representing 245 constituencies.

The five-day application period begins next Monday. The party’s candidate screening committee will begin deliberations on the applicants on Feb. 16, officials said.

On Tuesday, the party appointed 11 members to staff its screening committee including its head Chung Hong-won, former prosecutor and Korea Legal Aid Corporation director. But one of the members voluntarily resigned amid controversy over her political career.

Based on qualifications submitted in the application forms, the party is to weed out unviable applicants first.

It has already conducted opinion polls in the 136 electoral districts, whose results will be used to determine the incumbent lawmakers to be excluded from the nomination list. The party seeks to exclude at least 25 percent of its current legislators.

“In the party’s constitution, we have ethics standards. In the past, there had been many cases where we did not observe them. But this time, we will strictly apply them (to the candidate nomination,” Rep. Kwon Young-se, the party’s secretary general, said in a CBS radio interview.

The GNP plans to finish the nomination by March 11, a month before the elections. Some 700 people including 602 preliminary candidates registered with the state election watchdog are expected to apply for the party’s nomination.

The DUP also completed the organization of its 14-member screening committee on Friday.

Headed by Woosuk University President Kang Chul-kyu, the committee comprising seven from within the party and seven from outside the party will begin operating in full swing next week.

“We have selected the committee members based on fairness, ethics and desire for reform,” DUP spokesperson Shin Gyeong-min told reporters. “In accordance with the party’s constitution, we also picked five female committee members, thus accounting for 30 percent of the total members.”

The party will start drawing up detailed plans on deliberation principles and criteria, and nomination methods next week. Based on that, it will decide how many of the incumbents will be excluded from the candidate list.

The party will receive applicants for three days from next Thursday. The committee’s deliberation on each applicant is expected to start on Feb. 13.

It plans to first pick its candidates from among the incumbent lawmakers and its chiefs of regional chapters.

After that, it will select about three for each constituency and pick one of them through an open competition, in which registered citizens can vote for who they support via mobile phones.

The competition rate is expected to be around three to one ― about the same as that of the Saenuri-dang. About 700 people are forecast to apply for the party’s candidate nomination.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)