No More Non-democratic Nomination Process

A court has ruled to invalidate the nomination of Kang Hyun-wook a nominee of New Millenium Democratic Party for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The decision made by the court is significant in the sense that the court has decided to attack the deep-rooted and habitual nondemocratic nominating system employed by the parties.

However, it is regrettable that the party is trying to evade the issue and even neglect the decision made by the court. The MDP suddenly made changes in their party rules and renominated Kang in an act that cannot be understood in any other way than that they are intentionally ignoring the decision made by the court. Moreover, taking into consideration the remark Kang made "There has been some mistakes in practicing business process. However, it strengthened the solidarity among the party members,", it is clear that the political parties are unaware of the significance of the matter.

The reason why we are paying our attention to the matter is because the administration of justice has finally taken notice of the nondemocratic, top-down nomination process, which violating not only the constitution, but the rules made by party members themselves.

The problems of a non-democratic nomination process is not only confined to the ruling party, but also to the opposition parties. The Grand National Party, hearing the news about the court's decision, felt relieved that they had prepared an 'escape clause' for just such an occasion. However, if parties continue to be obsessed about protectong their own interests it is clear that a true democratization of the parties will be impossible.

Therefore, the nominating process must change. Consider the 'trial' nomination process being tried by the Democratic Labor Party. In this party, unlike others, members in good standing democratically elect their candidates. So far the party has nominated 21 members in a democratic way from February 13. Their nominating process will become a precedent.

The parties should realize that the decision of the courty reflects public opinion and that it is the last warning to their nondemocratic nomination process. We, therefore, urge them to reconsider their non-democratic nominating processes..

by Noh Jae-hyun