Opposition presidential candidates Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo on Tuesday agreed to unify their candidacies and form a broader alliance around their shared vision for political reform.

Moon, the Democratic United Party nominee, and independent Ahn announced a seven-point agreement after their first meeting to discuss their candidacy merger to compete against Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye in the Dec. 19 election.

“We agreed to decide on the single candidate before the candidate registration (slated for Nov. 25-26) and continue to engage in discussion for this,” they said in a statement read by their spokesmen.

They outlined three principles for the merger, saying that it should aim at winning the election, build upon shared values and philosophies, and pursue change for the future.

The two sides also agreed to adopt a joint declaration for political reform to bring together a wide range of political forces, grassroots movements and supporters under a new political flag.

“We agreed that we will unify the will of all the people who oppose the extension of administration under the Saenuri Party,” they said.

Three working-level officials from each camp will work together to draft the joint statement, they said.

“We agreed that for the sake of an administration change, new politics and political reform are needed, and that the first step for political reform is for the political circles to first lay down their privileges.”

They also decided to launch a joint campaign for the extension of voting hours.

The meeting was arranged Monday just after Ahn expressed his willingness in a public speech to accept Moon’s proposal for talks.

The agreement appears to strike a balance between the two sides’ demands.

Moon has called for expediting the merger process, saying they are running out of time.

“Today we will speak openly, and continue to engage in earnest discussion so we can soon bring good news to the public,” Moon said ahead of the meeting.

In contrast Ahn has argued that they should hammer out an agreement on political reform programs before the alliance process begins. The independent candidate also wanted their alliance to be broader so that he would not be disadvantaged in competition with Moon, who commands a powerful party machine.

Before the meeting he said he will not forget “the public’s passion for new politics and a change of government. The meeting is only the first step toward politics that really take care of the lives of the people, he added.

Reflecting Ahn’s opinion their statement said,“We will not measure the advantages or disadvantages and step forward only by upholding the will of the people desiring new politics and a change in administration.”

“The people’s understanding and agreement are essential,”it said.

Political reform has been central to their tie-up ever since Ahn announced his candidacy in September.

Until Monday, Ahn had maintained that he would only discuss the merger after the DUP had achieved political reform, despite continued calls from Moon’s side.

Moon has since announced political reform measures, and his camp and party have seen a number of changes geared toward moving away from established politics.

However, the two sides are expected to face tough negotiations as they have been at loggerheads over each other’s political overhaul program.

Last month, Ahn said that the number of National Assembly seats should be reduced by about one-third, and the central party system should be abolished to enable lawmakers to act with principle.

Under the existing party governance system, the central party has the right to nominate candidates for the general elections, which has been criticized as being the root of “mob politics.”

The measures were subjected to wide criticism from the political arena as being idealistic and needing more consideration on Ahn’s part.

The discussions for the merger, which the DUP wants to complete before the final candidate registration on Nov. 25 and 26, is likely to be complicated further by the possibility of forming a new party.

On Monday, Ahn mentioned “a national solidarity for new politics” in the speech given at Chonnam National University in Gwangju.

The comment has been interpreted as being a suggestion for the formation of a new party after the Dec. 19 election.

Although the idea of founding a new party through the merger of the two candidates’ campaigns is said to have floated around Ahn’s camp for some time, it is unclear how it will be taken at the DUP.

With regards to measures for changing the power structure within the party, details of Moon’s plans surfaced for the first time on Tuesday.

“The authority concentrated on the central party should be distributed to provincial and city chapters to create a democratic party,” Moon said.

Moon also said that the rights to nominate proportional representatives should be given over to provincial party chapters if a regional proportional representative system is introduced, and that a system that enables the public to participate in the process needs to be established.

Moon’s plans also include making the central party focus on policy-related issues, and the possibility of establishing the party’s policy research body as an independent organization.

“(If the central party is made to focus on policies) the problem of candidate nomination process being a distribution (of candidacy) among the factions can be fundamentally avoided.

While Moon drew up measures to change the power structure within the party, Ahn launched an advisory group for conducting state affairs.

The advisory group consists of 24 former bureaucrats, retired general officers, academics as well as those who held high-level positions within businesses and the media industry.

By Lee Joo-hee and Choi He-suk 
(jhl@heraldcorp.com) (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)