The main opposition party approved a package of reform initiatives on Wednesday despite opposition from nonmainstreamers, granting party chairman Moon Jae-in a reprieve from pressure on his leadership. 

The reform proposal was approved with unanimous applause at the New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s central committee meeting, but it was boycotted by some of Moon’s opponents who had demanded a full ballot, as opposed to voting by clapping.


With the initiatives getting the official nod from the party, Moon appears to have seized a chance to consolidate his powerbase ahead of the elections.
 
However, prospects remain unpromising as the approval was seen to sweep the burgeoning discord under the carpet, instead of turning around the party’s divisive mood.

Moon’s call for a vote of confidence also stands after he proposed it earlier this month to confront mounting pressure for him to resign.

If the measures were approved by the central committee, Moon had said he would have his leadership tested by holding a vote before the Chuseok holiday in late September.

Calling it a new beginning, Moon said he would start implementing fresh measures to fundamentally reform the party and urged the party to end the ongoing factional fight for a shared goal of winning the elections next year.

“The passage of the reform proposal is not the end but only the beginning,” said Moon after the meeting.

“We will unite our party and become a winning political party through adopting fundamental and cultural changes apart from institutional innovation,” he said.

The meeting was held a day after Moon met with former party cochairman Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo in a closed-door meeting to seek common ground for the party’s future and put an end to their public fissures. 

The meeting ended in failure only to confirm each other’s differences. Ahn boycotted the Wednesday meeting, claiming that he was deprived of a right to freely express his opposition to the reform measures.

“If chairman Moon didn’t risk his leadership with the fate of the reform measures, I could have attended the central committee meeting and started a debate there to explain why I was opposing it,” said Ahn in a message texted to reporters. “But unfortunately, the meeting today has turned into (an event) to make a decision on the chairman’s fate.”

The two have been engaged in a war of words as to whether or not to put the reform measures to a vote at Wednesday’s executive meeting, each accusing the other of driving the party into another catastrophe in pursuit of political gain. 

The NPAD central meeting was expected to be critical for both, as Moon wanted to reestablish his leadership and silence nonmainstream members who vehemently opposed reform measures. Ahn sought to stop Moon’s drive, which could hold back his ambition to be the liberal contender for the next presidential election. 

Despite the result, the chairman is likely to face pressure continuously from nonmainstream members to resign from his post. 

“After the vote, Moon, is expected to seek a political alliance with Rep. Ahn and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who both hold a strong image as innovative figures in the party,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live. It is crucial for Moon to work with Ahn and Park in order to win the general election next year, as they hold a strong support base among younger voters, particularly in Seoul and neighboring cities, he added. 

Moon has risked his leadership in line with the fate of the reform measures aimed at adopting new nomination rules. If the party disapproved the measures, the chairman said he would leave his post.

His surprise announcement, aimed at silencing objectors, sparked a backlash, as the nonmainstream members escalated their demand that the vote on the reform proposals be delayed.

Nonmainstream members had demanded that the vote be put off until after Oct. 8 when the parliamentary audit ends. They have remained skeptical of the plans, suspecting that the group of mainstreamers, led by Moon, would abuse the reform proposals to pursue their own political agendas.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)