Ruling party in dilemma over nominating mayoral candidates for by-elections

A photo of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is displayed in front of his office in Seoul City Hall, Friday, hours after Park was found dead on a mountain near his residence. His death came after his former secretary filed a complaint with the police accusing him of sexual harassment. The mayor post will remain vacant until by-elections next April. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han

By Jung Da-min

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is in a dilemma over whether to nominate candidates for next year's by-elections of lawmakers and heads of local governments, following the death of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and earlier resignation of Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don.

The party's own regulations state the DPK will not field a candidate for a by-election that was triggered by a party member resigning over their own wrongdoing.

Park was Seoul's longest-serving mayor, serving his third consecutive term since he first took office in 2011, and with his rising presence in the DPK he was considered a potential presidential contender. Two days before he was found dead, Park's former secretary filed a complaint accusing him of sexual harassment but in accordance with a relevant law the police investigation into the case has now been closed as the suspect is deceased.

In late April, DPK member Oh Keo-don stepped down as Busan mayor, admitting to sexual misconduct after a civil servant accused him of sexually assaulting her in his office.

Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don bows in a show of apology during a press conference at Busan City Hall, April 23, while announcing his resignation after admitting that he sexually harassed a female employee at the city hall. Yonhap

With the head positions of the country's two largest cities ― Seoul with a population of about 10 million and Busan with about 3.45 million ― now vacant, next year's by-elections, set to be held on April 7, are expected to be a major competition between parties to take political power. The elections are also being held just a year before the next presidential election slated for March 2022, so winning the by-elections is critical for the parties as a barometer of public opinion.

But critics say ― and even some members within the DPK agree ― that the ruling party should not nominate candidates because of an internal rule that bans candidate nomination for a constituency where an elected DPK member resigned over their own "grave wrongdoing." But the rule does not elaborate on what kind of misconduct is defined as "grave."

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Political watchers predict that the DPK will nominate candidates for the two major cities despite controversy and criticism, as the symbolic importance of the by-elections is too great.

"The DPK will definitely nominate candidates of the two cities, citing the presumption of innocence," said Hwang Tae-soon, a political commentator. For Oh's case, he resigned following the sexual violence accusation, but has yet to be indicted as the victim did not provide further statements out of fear of secondary damage including personal information disclosure. For Park's case, his death ended the investigation into allegations against him, so it will be difficult to clearly find out exactly what his wrongdoing was and assess how much he was responsible for the vacancy of the mayoral post.

Hwang, however, said the DPK would eventually lose public support by nominating candidates, responding to calls from its enthusiastic supporters while ignoring growing public criticism.

"Next year's by-elections will be a vote judging the performance of the incumbent government and ruling bloc with President Moon Jae-in having only a year left in office," Hwang said. "This year's April 15 general election should have been such a judgment, but the national crisis situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought the 'rally-round-the-flag effect' in which the government was able to reduce criticism through crisis management policies like providing relief funds."

Criticism against the DPK is already growing from other political parties and civic society over a series of sexual harassment and assault scandals involving its influential members including Park, Oh and former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung.

After An stepped down from the governor position in March 2018 over a sexual assault complaint against him, the DPK nominated the current governor, Yang Seung-jo, as its candidate for the vacant governor position in the by-election held in June the same year.

Political commentator Yu Chang-seon said the DPK should strictly apply its internal rule of no nomination.

"The DPK should take responsibility as a political party by abiding by its own regulations… There have been a series of sexual harassment scandals involving municipality heads from the DPK, including An, Oh and Park, but the party has never taken any follow-up measures to show people that it was taking its responsibility," Yu said. "But I still see there is little possibility for the DPK to make such a decision of not nominating mayoral candidates. The DPK, however, could lose more while seeking immediate gain as it would lose public support."

The final decision of the DPK over the nomination of mayoral candidates is expected to be made by the party's new leadership that will be elected in late August.

Kim Boo-kyum, one of the party's two members running in the party leadership race, hinted that the DPK could nominate candidates, saying "the by-elections are big so the party's fate will depend on it."

"It has become too big an issue to adhere to the party's internal rule," Kim said in a radio interview, Tuesday. "We'll have to respect party members' opinion on whether to nominate candidates."