중앙데일리

	GNP leaders discuss the by-election results. From right, Chairman Kang Jae-sup, floor leader Kim Hyung-o and Supreme Council member Lee Jae-oh. [YONHAP]

Shocked and in disbelief over Wednesday’s special election results, senior members of the opposition Grand National Party are being driven to resign and accept responsibility.
“It was an obvious showdown between the Grand National Party and everyone else and we have been crushed,” GNP supreme council member Kang Chang-hee said yesterday morning, resigning and taking responsibility for losing the Daejeon constituency, a region of strategic importance to the party in the upcoming presidential election in December.
“It hurts to find out that public sentiment in the South Chungcheong area [has left us] and it is my duty to take the responsibility,” Kang said.
The conservative party lost two out of three parliamentary contests, including Daejeon, while giving away five out of six seats for district and county heads to independent candidates. Most of the district and county constituencies had been Grand National strongholds.
Later in the day, Chun Yu-ok, another supreme council member, also announced that she is stepping down.
“I feel I did not dedicate myself enough,” she said yesterday afternoon. “I apologize to the party members and to the people.”
Watching the painful ballot count late Wednesday, Chun had said that the entire supreme council board should resign. She dared party chairman Kang Jae-sup to take responsibility first.
He responded that he plans to “accept public opinion humbly and wants a new start,” but there is no sign of him quitting yet. Lee Jae-oh, the GNP second-in-command, is also being pressured to resign.
The bitter reaction from the party came after they found out that parliamentary candidate Lee Jae-seon only received 37 percent of the vote, while his opponent Sim Dae-pyung of the South Chungcheong-based People First Party won a staggering 60 percent of the vote in Daejeon.
“They [the Grand National Party] were very arrogant,” said Kang Won-taek, a political science professor at Soongshil University. “They must have been confused and thought the popularity of their presidential candidates meant the public also loved the entire party. This is a very different matter.”
Experts said one reason the Grand National Party has had a good run in recent political battles was due to growing antipathy toward President Roh Moo-hyun and the governing Uri Party.
“People had turned away from the governing party and they chose what’s on the other side,” Kim said. “This did not mean the public actually supported the opposition.” As luck would have it, President Roh was not a focus of attention during the by-election. The recent free trade agreement with the United States was even praised by the GNP and there were no accusations to make against him by the conservatives. The Blue House stayed quiet throughout the election period, declining to make any significant comments about the polls.
Instead it was the Grand National Party that was accused of involvement in a series of corruption scandals. That seemed to increase the appeal of independent candidates over political parties.
The special election Wednesday also included nine provincial and metropolitan-area legislators. This was also a defeat for the Grand Nationals as six of the seats went to independents and only three to the GNP.
The Grand National Party’s electoral defeat in Daejeon puts the party in danger of losing votes from the politically-neutral region during the upcoming presidential election also.
Acknowledging that fact, presidential candidates of the Grand National Party also seemed to be ducking for cover yesterday.
One of the GNP’s leading candidates, Lee Myung-bak, cancelled a visit to Busan and postponed a ceremony to open his new Yeouido office at the end of the month.
Park Geun-hye, the other front-runner, also postponed a seminar she was supposed to hold today with members of her campaign team.
Meanwhile, the victory of Sim Dae-pyung, the head of the local People First Party, in Daejeon, creates a new political factor and a leader with access to votes and no national affiliation.











The newly elected assemblyman said that his win means the region will seek to remain independent from the big power players in Seoul.
“Like Alexander the Great who solved the Gordian knot, I will perform a historical turnaround,” said Sim, the city’s former mayor and the former governor of South Chungcheong province.
It is said that Alexander the Great untied the intractable knot with a slice of his sword, but Sim did not explain what he meant by “solving the knot,” leaving plenty of questions about how he is going to juggle the new power he earned by standing between the Uri Party and the Grand National Party.
“Sim is not strong enough yet to come out with a third force to run in the presidential election [against the Uri or the opposition Grand National],” said Professor Kang. “But many eyes are obviously on him because he is strong enough to sway votes from the Chungcheong provincial area.”
As for the combined Muan-Sinan constituencies in South Jeolla province, the victory of Kim Hong-up of the Democratic Party was expected. He won 50 percent of the vote, beating Lee Jae-hyun, his non-affiliated opponent, who got just 30 percent of the vote.
Despite Muan-Sinan being a stronghold of Lee, a former governor, Kim apparently benefited from his father’s reputation. He is the second son of former President Kim Dae-jung, whose influence is still strong in his hometown of Sinan. During the campaign, the younger Kim’s mother, the former first lady, also visited the constituency, urging voters to support her son and the Kim family legacy.
The Grand National Party candidate, Kang Seong-man, was no match for the clan, winning only 12 percent of the vote there.
In Hwaseong, Gyeonggi province, the only parliamentary contest the Grand National Party won, winner Koh Hee-sun got 57 percent of the vote. Park Bong-hyun of the Uri trailed far behind with 31 percent of the vote. Jang Myeong-gu of Democratic Labor got 12 percent.


By Lee Min-a Staff Writer [mina@joongang.co.kr]