[Editorial] Drawing Ahn’s supporters

Independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s departure last Friday from the race for next month’s presidential election has set the stage for a duel between the contenders from the two main political parties.

Rep. Park Geun-hye of the conservative ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Moon Jae-in, her rival from the liberal opposition Democratic United Party, registered their candidacy with the election commission Sunday. Park tendered her resignation as a lawmaker on the same day.

They will kick off a 22-day official campaign Tuesday for the Dec. 19 election, the outcome of which will set the course for the nation over the coming five years.

Ahn’s announcement ending his 66-day presidential bid was heart-breaking for his ardent, largely youthful, supporters who hoped he could overhaul a political system mired in partisan wrangling and corruption. Ahn had pledged to assume a role in bringing about “common sense politics in which the people win.”

His failure may be attributed to his lack of political ability and capital needed to carry out his goals. The wall surrounding the political establishment might have been simply too solid for the software entrepreneur-turned-professor to tear down with the backing of an independent electorate.

His announcement, which followed prolonged negotiations with Moon on merging their candidacies, came as his approval rating was declining, especially after his unimpressive performance at a TV debate with the DUP contender last week.

Although frustrated this time, his presidential bid riding on the public’s aspiration for a new kind of politics is meaningful in that it has pushed established parties into scrambling for political reform in a way not seen in recent years.

In a news conference announcing his departure from the presidential race, Ahn hinted at a willingness to return to the political arena, saying he was really longing for a new era, though “my dream of a new politics will be delayed for a while.”

Ahn and his supporters could still have a decisive influence on the result of the contest between the two main contenders, which is expected to be decided by a razor-thin margin. The focus of the rival candidates’ campaigns will thus have to be on how to draw the independent voters who have supported Ahn into their folds.

The DUP contender is moving to secure full support from Ahn, promising to realize the policies he put forward. The ruling camp will try to attract undecided voters, projecting itself as a force better prepared to put into practice their wishes for political reform than the DUP, which it claims had frustrated Ahn’s noble goals with factional maneuvering.