What a dazzling array of populist pledges

The April 10 parliamentary elections are nearing, but voters pay little attention to campaign promises from candidates and their parties. The fact that ideology is dominating the campaign can be one reason, and the lack of practicability and feasibility in the campaign promises is another. Outlandish and uncanny ideas and propositions only fan cynicism towards them.

Majority Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung proposes to give out 250,000 won ($186) to every citizen for relief to their livelihoods. He claims that the government can issue bonds to raise 13 trillion won needed to finance the helicopter drop. The idea suggests that the liberal party is still committed to the illusive state-financed income-led growth model that had driven the economic policy of the former liberal government.

A normal citizen would worry about the spike in inflation and dent to the public finance if the government raises that much of debt. The 13 trillion won could be better used to modernize infrastructure or invest in research and development to hone productivity. It is no wonder that only few voters would take time to study the party’s campaign platforms.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has turned into a champion of populism. He has been touring the country to stage public hearings, promising colossal spending at every stop. The long list includes lifting of greenbelt zones for housing, extension of fast railway service in the capital region, construction of a new airport for Daegu and North Gyeongsang, a mega cluster for semiconductor production, to name a few. But the president has skipped mentioning where the money would come from. There had been so many promises that few stick in the minds of the people.

Replications and all-the-same platforms also help turn voters off. Parties have been copying platforms from one another, such as building underground railway service and including caregiver cost in national health insurance coverage. As the platforms are alike, it is hard to tell the difference or have any trust in their pledges.

Some candidates even make promises that contradict their party’s position. The governing People Power Party (PPP) in its booklet on its 10 major campaign pledges, briefly mentions funding each project. But the figurative footnote is hardly reliable. The DP has published a 300-page platform booklet, but it left out financial schemes for their ambitious plans. Without providing their specific fund-raising plans, the projects are deceptive.

We must establish an evaluation system of checking how many past campaign promises were kept and using that record as a guidance for voting in upcoming elections so that politicians’ recklessness and unreliability can lessen every campaign season.