Official Campaign Kicks Off Today

Official campaigning for the April 13 General Election starts today. All registered candidates can legally begin attempting to persuade the general public to vote for them. Offical campaigning will end at 12 p.m. on April 12.
All candidates of the 2000 General Election are required to report the past three year's of their tax payment history as well as their military service record. The Central Election Management Committee said they would reveal their reports on the Internet. The credibility of candidates as revealed by their personal records, is expected to be an effective choice making technique during the campaign. The committee also plans to release the criminal record of each candidate.
During the official campaign period, researching or publishing polls is strictly prohibited and any informal social gathering, such as regional, clan, or alumni meetings, which could be used to sway voters will also not be allowed.
There are 273 seats in the National Assembly but experts and legislators forecast that no party will win a majority of the seats. If these predictions are correct a major transformation of party organization is expected to take place after the election.
The latter half of Kim Dae-jung's presidency will necessarily be effected by the outcome of the election, determining whether or not his party will be able to easily gain control of the National Assembly in the future.
With this in mind, both the ruling and opposition parties are working extra-hard on the campaign. Some expressed concern that this fierce competition could lead to corruption or false propaganda.
The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) insists on political stabilization for economic development while the Grand National Party (GNP) stands on "Judgement of Kim's regime." The MDP and GNP are the dominant parties in the election with the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) and the Democratic People's Party (DPP) following behind. The ULD pledges to reform the cabinet system while the DPP plans to reorganize the opposition parties.
The MDP and GNP are battling over 97-seat-holder Seoul in order to win the name of "ruling party."
Issues like national debt and suspicious fund spending will be debated during the campaign.

by Kim Kyo-joon