Heads up, GNP

The Grand National Party is on full alert after Lee Hoi-chang, the former head of the party, announced that he is running for president as an independent candidate. Kang Jae-sup, the current leader of the GNP, criticized the move by saying, “It is a betrayal to help the left-wing government which ruined the country to extend its rule.”
Lee Myung-bak, the GNP’s presidential candidate, said, “It is against the stream of history.”
Lee Myung-bak’s supreme council member, Lee Jae-oh, said, “There are people who are confused whether the primary has ended or not. I will not just sit and watch.”
That remark provoked Park Geun-hye. Lee Jae-oh resigned upon the demand from the Park side a day after Lee Hoi-chang announced his candidacy. However, the measures coming from the GNP and Lee Myung-bak are always one step behind and that belatedness is raising doubts about Lee Myung-bak’s leadership.
During the past two presidential elections in 1997 and 2002, Lee Hoi-chang lost because he ignored the desires of the contemporary people.
The GNP was the biggest party and was too arrogant. They thought they had already won the election. People around then-candidate Lee Hoi-chang surrounded him and blocked him from any outside connection. The current situation with Lee Myung-bak is similar to those of the past two elections that Lee Hoi-chang was involved in.
Lee Hoi-chang is receiving an approval rating of about 20 percent even though he has jumped into the competition only a few weeks before the election without belonging to any political party. Whether the reasons that Lee Hoi-chang gave for his candidacy are proper or not, one out of five who answered the poll are supporting the former GNP head. Lee Myung-bak and the GNP are highly responsible for Lee Hoi-chang’s candidacy, which opposes what Lee Hoi-chang had promised years before.
Lee Myung-bak has to be more modest and realize that he won the primary with a small margin of 1.5 percent of the vote. If Lee knows that his over 50 percent approval rating comes from the aspirations of the people who want a change of political power, he can’t be arrogant. He shouldn’t let his people go around acting as if he has already won the election or claim that Park’s followers should be kicked out. Such conduct disappoints the public and also influenced Lee Hoi-chang to run for president. Avarice can bring everything down.