By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
President-elect Lee Myung-bak said Monday that it is not time for his Grand National Party to talk about the selection of its candidates to run in the National Assembly elections slated for April 9.
In an attempt to prevent possible internal feuding over the issue, Lee said, ``Now, we have to launch the transition team. If we talk about the elections, it would disappoint the people.''
Lee made the remarks in a meeting with party Chairman Kang Jae-sup.
He said he was embarrassed by media headlines saying a feud was brewing inside the GNP over power struggles regarding candidate selection for the Assembly elections.
He asked party leaders to keep a low-key attitude and not to cause an unnecessary backlash from the public.
Regarding the elections, the question of who will have the real power to select the party's candidates to run has become a critical issue after Lee won the Dec. 19 presidential election.
Rep. Park Hee-tae, a close confidant of Lee, sparked the controversy late last week.
Park said that it was time to rethink the party platform, which clarified the power division between the president from the party and the party chairperson.
The GNP platform sets a limited role for the president in the selection of candidates, and the party chairperson oversees the selection.
Therefore the limited role inside the party system will prevent Lee from influencing the party candidate selection in the next elections, party sources said.
Lee's influence inside the party could meet opposition from former Party Chairwoman Park Geun-hye who has considerable clout, they said.
Park has not commented on Lee's confidante's remarks yet.
``It is not desirable for the GNP leaders to feud over the Assembly elections to come next year. We have tons of work to do now,'' Lee said.
Experts said the President-elect's warning is based on the calculation that the brewing feud could trigger a backlash from the public, which will have a negative impact on the parliamentary elections.