Primary experiment is given high marks despite the flaws

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party will end its series of presidential primaries Saturday in Seoul, where 20,000 electors are expected to turn out to vote. The primaries opened in Jeju on March 9 with seven candidates. Five have dropped out of the race, leaving Roh Moo-hyun and Representative Chung Dong-young. Mr. Roh leads with more than 73 percent of the vote, virtually ensuring victory over Mr. Chung.

The ruling party presidential primaries were the first in Korea, and the experiment had a considerable impact on the political arena. The ruling party has been able to shore up its flagging public support and has found in Mr. Roh a strong challenger to Representative Lee Hoi-chang of the main opposition Grand National Party in the December election. The main opposition did not ignore the popularity the primaries brought the ruling party: It launched its own primaries on April 13.

The ruling party primaries were applauded by the public as a step toward the democratization of Korea's traditionally hierarchical political structure. But the innovative move has been marred by allegations of shady political maneuvering behind the scenes.

The biggest achievement of the primaries, according to many observers, was bringing the wary public back into the political process, particularly voters in their 30s and 40s, many of whom had lost faith and interest in politics.

Almost 2 million non-party members applied to be electors, and more than half were voters in their 30s and 40s.

The primaries are also credited with having influenced the selection of candidates for the June local elections. According to Cho Jeong-gwan, a professor of political science at Hanshin University, there are cases where candidates in local elections were selected by potential voters rather than handpicked by party leaders.

But the primary was not free of regionalism; some candidates dominated the voting in their home regions or areas where their political careers were launched. There were also calls for stricter regulations. For example, experts said that allowing the unchecked release of popularity poll results during the primaries affected voters' decisions.

by Song Sang-hoon