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| People's Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo, center, salutes the national flag during a meeting of the party's Executive Committee at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Choi Ha-young
Bareun Party Chairman Rep. Yoo Seong-min Thursday welcomed People's Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo's decision a day earlier to put to a party-wide vote whether to merge the two parties.
Yoo said he will set up a team for negotiations with the People's Party on the proposed merger.
The People's Party has 39 seats and the Bareun Party has 11 in the 299-member National Assembly. If the parties are combined, however, more than 20 lawmakers opposing the merger could leave, observers say.
"We welcome Ahn's future-oriented decision to reform politics," Yoo said during a party meeting. "I will promptly make up a team for negotiations between the parties."
He appointed Reps. Oh Shin-hwan and Jeong Woon-chun as lead negotiators for the anticipated merger process. "I hope the People's Party will confirm the people in charge of negotiation," Yoo said. "I've exchanged views with Ahn in direct and indirect ways regarding the merger."
Yoo's remarks are in response to Ahn's Wednesday press conference.
To push for the merger, Ahn declared to carry out a vote of confidence by all party members about his leadership. He said he will drop out of the post if a majority of party members oppose his merger attempt.
Otherwise, he will spur the merger drive, which is likely to result in the defection of anti-merger representatives mostly based in the Jeolla provinces.
The People's Party continued its internal feud over the party's merger with the minor conservative party, Thursday.
Ahn has sought the liberal party's merger with the conservative party to create a centrist party. However, some Jeolla-based lawmakers are furious about the bid, claiming the merger will harm the liberal values of the People's Party ― which is primarily based in the Jeolla region, the liberals' home turf.
The party's 75-member executive committee decided to put Ahn's merger proposal to a vote. "The People's Party will start the voting process next week and wrap it up by the end of this month," Ahn said after the committee.
"Party members have repeatedly shown their strong support for the merger through surveys. The outcome is in stark contrast with some of the Jeolla lawmakers' stances and it's impossible to reach an agreement through debate," Ahn said in the committee. "The vote by all party members is the only way to end this time-consuming and destructive controversy."
However, there is another obstacle before he can accomplish his goal ― party congress. As anti-merger lawmakers point out, the congress is authorized to finalize the party's merger.
In the middle of the committee, anti-merger lawmakers revealed their hostility toward Ahn. "The merger, despite the desperate opposition in the party's core support base, is meaningless," Park Joo-sun, a four-term lawmaker based in Gwangju, told reporters.
During the closed-door committee session, Ahn's supporters rallied to back up the chairman's bid, slamming the anti-merger lawmakers. To prevent a confrontation, the event was held amidst strict security.
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