Rival parties clashed on Friday over the main opposition leader Moon Jae-in’s proposal to conduct a public poll on the prime minister nominee.
The proposal came a day after the ruling and the main opposition parties reached an agreement to hold the plenary vote on prime minister nominee Rep. Lee Wan-koo early next week. Governing Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min expressed “regret” at Moon’s suggestion, saying that he has reneged on the agreement a few hours after it was reached by the two parties. The floor leader also vowed to hold the vote as scheduled.
On Monday, lawmakers are expected to vote on Lee’s nomination. Analysts said despite the resistance from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the Saenuri Party’s majority guarantees his nomination.
Rep. Yoo said the Saenuri Party had already “yielded much” to the NPAD when the party agreed to postpone the plenary vote on Lee from the prescheduled date of Thursday, to coming Monday, after the NPAD asked for a delay.
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| Prime Minister nomiinee Rep. Lee Wan-koo (Yonhap) |
“I see no problem in holding the vote (on Lee) on Monday. Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa has promised he would attend to oversee the vote. Our party will be there,” Yoo said.
Yoo’s statements come despite worsening public opinion against Rep. Lee. The nominee faces allegations of speculating in property, evading the mandatory military draft, and threatening faultfinding reporters.
Over 40 percent of the 1,010 respondents in a Gallup Korea poll conducted from Feb. 10 to 12 said they are against Lee’s nomination to the Cabinet’s No. 2 job. The tally is a rise from 20 percent in a survey conducted during the last week of January.
The February poll had a confidence level of 95 percent on a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
The Gallup count echoes similar results of a tally conducted by the NPAD on Thursday. The results showed up to 55 percent of the 1,000 respondents opposed Lee’s appointment. The margin of error was 3.1 percent on a 95 percent confidence level.
Moon appears to have had these results in mind when he proposed holding another poll on the nomination over the weekend, before Monday’s Assembly vote to decide Lee’s fate.
NPAD officials also expressed confusion at Moon’s remarks, saying the new party chair had proposed the poll without consulting his top advisors.
NPAD representatives later tried to downplay Moon’s proposals.
“Rep. Moon meant that our party would carefully consider the public’s opinion on the prime minister nominee over the weekend before Monday’s plenary session,” Rep. Kim Yung-rok, head NPAD spokesman, said.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
