(Lady Yangban and I didn't make to any palaces today. Actually, she has to do some work this afternoon. So I have a little time here in the office to get some work done and to do a brief report.)
I have a little Sunday ritual. I read the Saturday KTimes during the morning subway ride to our church in Seoul and I read the Saturday KHerald during the afternoon trip back to Ansan. Well, this weekend's Times had several interesting articles which collectively indicate that the election might be more competitive than anyone would have thought a week or two ago.
First, it seems that Park Kuen-hye is helping the GNP arrest its free fall in popular support ahead of the April 15 elections. While the Jolla-based OOP still leads in 7 out of 10 surveyed "key" districts, the pick up of the two Gyeongsang districts since the last survey on March 21 shows that the GNP might at least be able to hold on to its base on election day.
Also, it seems that the liberal Democratic Labor Party (DLP) might pull a Nader and suck some votes from the OOP. This happened after the OOP broke an unwritten deal with the DLP not to step into districts where the other party had a good chance of winning. Now the DLP is hitting the OOP as being just another bunch of opportunistic insiders:
Vice DLP spokesman Kim Sung-hee attacked the de facto ruling party for bringing in former GNP lawmaker Park Sung-kook. "It shows that the Uri Party is nothing short of a mixture of all ideological inclinations, which is a far cry from reform-mindedness," Kim said.Comparatively speaking, they are correct. As the Oranckay reports, the DLP is the only "major" party that is "progressive" in the traditional sense of the word and they have been gaining strength.
While it may seem strange for the OOP to pick this fight with the DLP at this time, it may be a reflection of their confidence in winning next month even with the DLP taking some votes from the left. Another possibility is that they could be worrying that a DLP which is able to form a negotiating group in the National Assembly (if they win more than 15 seats) could be a threat to the OOP in the future, especially towards any future run for president by OOP head Chung Dong-young.
Or it could just be Chung's way to stick it to DLP leader Kwon Young-ghil for whatever personal reason he has against him. Maybe Kwon didn't invite him to a birthday party one day or something.
It any case it still looks like the OOP will get a plurality, if not a majority in next month's elections. But at least the country will be safe from an OOP constitutional majority (two-thirds plus).
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