Citizens' Alliance Rebukes Political Parties

On March 28, the Citizens' Alliance for the 2000 General Election claimed that the proportional representative system is curently being abused to serve the interests of political parties. The alliance went on to demand the withdrawal of 20 candidates from the national constituency for the upcoming elections.

More specifically, the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) was accused of putting political interests over candidates' merits, while the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) was put to task for failing to nominate women to 30 percent of its posts, as it had promised earlier.

The alliance critisized the possible vote-buying by candidates of the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) and the Democratic Peoples' Party (DPP). The civic group is threatening to take their case to court, if the allegations are confirmed.

by Moon Kyung-ran