Democratic Party Faces Key Challenge in Coordinating Future Pledges
People Power Party Struggles with Severe Time Constraints After Impeachment
Both Parties Must Finalize Pledges by Early May
As of the 22nd, there are 42 days left until the presidential election. While both the ruling and opposition parties are busy preparing for their primaries to select presidential candidates, each party is also actively working on their official campaign pledges. The Democratic Party, which is aiming to regain power, appears to have more leeway in preparing its pledges, whereas the People Power Party is facing an urgent situation due to an early presidential election that it did not anticipate.
On the 22nd, an official from the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee stated, “We are organizing the party-level pledges before the presidential candidate is finalized,” and added, “We are (to some extent) prepared.” Another official from the Policy Committee said, “We are accepting pledge proposals from various groups until this week,” and explained, “Once the candidate is decided over the weekend, the existing official organizations and the campaign team will be merged, and the pledges will be reviewed together next week.”
The official campaign pledges are expected to take shape around mid-May.
On the 16th, at the inauguration ceremony of the Democratic Party's former leader Lee Jaemyung's think tank 'Growth and Integration' held at the National Assembly Library Auditorium in Yeouido, Seoul, co-chairmen Yoo Jongil and Heo Min are saluting the national flag. Photo by Yonhap News
For the Democratic Party, policy-level pledges have already been prepared in anticipation of a possible early presidential election. In addition, as the likelihood of victory has increased due to the impeachment situation, various policy proposals continue to pour in. In the case of former leader Lee Jaemyung’s camp, which is leading in opinion polls, ideas are emerging not only from the primary campaign but also from external organizations such as “Growth and Integration.” As a result, the Democratic Party’s main challenge will likely be to coordinate and organize these pledges, rather than simply speeding up the process.
In contrast, the People Power Party is under significant time pressure. On the previous day, Yoon Jaeok, chairman of the People Power Party’s Presidential Election Preparation Committee, said, “The People Power Party was unable to properly prepare for the election due to the unexpected early presidential election following the impeachment, so the schedule is extremely tight.” Although the party’s Policy Committee is working on pledges, the situation remains largely unchanged.
Moreover, for the People Power Party, the candidate will be finalized as early as the 29th of this month or as late as the 3rd of next month, according to the primary schedule. The party is under even more pressure than the Democratic Party in terms of coordinating party-level and candidate-level pledges.
Given these circumstances, the People Power Party leadership has put forward pledges such as introducing a 4.5-day workweek and fully relocating the National Assembly to Sejong Special City at the party level. This is because there is a greater need to respond to current issues and policies than to coordinate with the presidential candidate’s policy positions.
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