The fate of a former floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party hung in the balance Monday as the party’s nomination committee ratcheted up pressure against him to voluntarily give up his bid to run in next month’s general election.
With the Saenuri Party’s Supreme Council and nomination committee failing to reach a consensus over whether to select Rep. Yoo Seong-min as a parliamentary candidate, the committee’s key members noted that the only way to solve this gridlock would be if the third-term lawmaker decides to quit the race.
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| The Saenuri Party’s chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung receives questions from reporters at the National Assembly on Monday. Yonhap |
“I am waiting for Yoo’s decision (to forgo his election bid),” the committee’s chairman Rep. Lee Hahn-koo said, when asked about whether the body would exclude Yoo from the nomination. “I think it is the best way to help us minimize pushback.”
The move was seen as an effort by the pro-Park faction — which runs the nomination committee — to avoid public criticism by tossing the decision over to Yoo, who has been laying low in recent weeks due to the nomination feud. It had been reported that Yoo would not drop his bid unless the party forced him to. They have to finalize the nomination list by Wednesday.
The Saenuri Party leadership, meanwhile, indicated earlier in the day that it planned to put Cho Yoon-sun, a former presidential secretary for political affairs, back on the nomination list. Cho, however, refused to accept the proposal.
If the former gender equality minister had been nominated, she would have competed with Rep. Chin Young at Yonsan district in Seoul. Cho had lost a nomination battle to fellow party member Lee Hye-hoon by a narrow margin the day before in Seocho constituency
Apart from Cho, others working as top aides to President Park have also struggled to outperform those outside the pro-Park faction in the nomination contest. Reps. Kim Jae-won, Joo Ho-young and Yoon Sang-hyun, lawmakers who doubled as presidential secretaries for political affairs, were excluded from the nomination.
As factional strife continued over the nomination battle, President Park blamed the legislative deadlock on the lawmakers who she described as “being preoccupied” with their own political careers, while setting aside legislative affairs such as passing pending business bills.
“The legislative process has been left in limbo because of the election campaign,” said Park during a meeting with her top aides. “If the politicians continue to engage in their own politics, the Assembly will lose the opportunity (to finish its business).”
By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)
