Parties begin campaign for five Assembly seats in by-elections

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- Ruling and opposition parties and more than a dozen
independent candidates began their official campaigning Thursday for the
parliamentary by-elections to be held later this month to fill five vacant
National Assembly seats.
A total of 29 candidates, including 13 independents, registered to run in the
Oct. 28 elections. Four of the five seats were originally held by legislators
from the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), and one from the main opposition
Democratic Party (DP), all of whom were stripped of their posts when convicted of
election law violations.
Although negligible in proportion to the 299-member parliament, the upcoming
elections are expected to be heated, as they will be viewed as a vote of
confidence for the parties as well as President Lee Myung-bak, who will begin the
third year of his five-year term next year.
"I am confident the people will give us the strength to stop the Lee Myung-bak
administration's self-complacence in the Oct. 28 by-elections," DP chief Rep.
Chung Sye-kyun said at a meeting of party executives Thursday.
Chung said earlier his party was eyeing all five seats, which, when added to the
combined 95 seats of the opposition bloc, will give them the minimum number of
votes to initiate impeachment of Cabinet ministers.
"The Democratic Party will focus all its strength, from party members to top
executives, to secure victories in Ansan and other districts," the DP chief said
while campaigning for his party's candidate in the Seoul satellite city.
Ansan and another nearby suburb, Suwon, are likely to see the fiercest battles as
elections in the capital area are often considered a barometer of overall public
sentiment because of its relatively neutral political affiliation.
The GNP already controls 167 seats in the unicameral parliament, but a defeat in
the upcoming elections could lead to the early resignation of its month-old
leadership as the party will widely be seen as a drag on reform efforts by the
president.
"The upcoming by-elections will be an opportunity in which the people will decide
whether they will support the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Grand National
Party, who are striving to create a chance for our country to overcome the
economic crisis and become an advanced nation, or help the old political forces
who are only good at opposing," GNP chief Rep. Chung Mong-joon said while
campaigning for the party candidate in Suwon.
The ruling party claims winning the two Assembly seats in the capital area, which
it has not been able to do in recent years, will mean a victory in the Assembly
by-elections.
One of the most watched candidates is the former head of the ruling party, Park
Hee-tae, who gave up the top party post last month to run for his sixth term as a
lawmaker.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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