A parliamentary committee on political reform plans to adopt an open primary system using mobile voting to allow political parties to select election candidates through contests open to non-party members, officials from the rival parties said Wednesday.
An open primary is a system in which ordinary people are allowed to cast votes to select candidates even if they are not party members. The candidates who receive the most votes in the primaries win nominations for the general elections.
On Wednesday, Rep. Joo Seong-young of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and Rep. Park Ki-choon of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), who belong to the committee on behalf of their parties, said they reached an agreement to submit a bill on Thursday to revise the current election law to adopt the system.
The rival parties had agreed on the need to adopt the open primaries to prevent nepotism and corruption in the nomination process, but they were divided over how to implement the system.
While the DUP demands the use of the mobile voting system for efficiency after it was successfully used in the party's leadership contest, the GNP has been cautious about holding online polls because of concerns over proxy votes.
If the bill is passed before the April parliamentary elections, the political parties will be able to hold open primaries to pick their candidates for the upcoming vote.
