By Jack Kim and Heekyong Yang
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s conservatives dropped their presidential candidate on Saturday and reopened the nomination process, after the former prime minister decided to join the party to challenge the liberal frontrunner in an election just four weeks away.
The People Power Party said its leadership decided to cancel the nomination of Kim Moon-soo and hold a new vote on replacing him with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, whose late entry into the race derailed the consensus over its candidate for the snap June 3 presidential vote.
The liberal Democratic Party’s candidate Lee Jae-myung has been a clear frontrunner to replace conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April for violating his duties when he declared a short-lived martial law in December.
Kim, who was selected as the conservatives’ candidate in a party convention a week ago, has resisted pressure from the party to step aside in favour of the more popular Han, who had declined to participate in the nomination process while he was still serving as prime minister.
Kim said he was the sole legitimate candidate chosen under a democratic process.
He filed for an injunction to stop the party from reopening the nomination process but it was denied by a court on Friday, clearing the way for the conservatives to hold a new vote this weekend.
Kim told a press conference on Saturday that the party’s decision was a “political coup” and accused it of violating internal procedures by replacing him. He vowed to respond with legal and political action.
“Last night, democracy within our party died,” Kim said. “Those responsible for this situation will be held accountable legally and politically.”
The People Power Party defended its moves, saying it had no alternative after the two candidates failed to unify behind a single choice.
“We determined that a unified candidacy through agreement was no longer possible, so we had no choice but to proceed with the necessary steps and administrative procedures,” Kwon Young-se, head of the party’s emergency response committee, told a press conference.
“We deeply regret that it came to this, but it was unavoidable. We believe there are no legal issues with the process.”
Kim’s campaign said he had made an additional court filing to stop the party from cancelling his candidacy, which the court is set to rule on later on Saturday, Yonhap reported.
People Power Party spokesperson Shin Dong-uk said party members would vote on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. (0100-1200 GMT) on whether to approve Han as the nominee, with party officials due to meet later on Saturday and on Sunday to confirm the results.
The party has said it hopes to finalise its new nominee before the national election commission’s formal registration for candidacy closes on Sunday.
Han, who joined the People Power Party on Saturday after resigning as prime minister a week earlier, had also served as acting president following Yoon’s ouster.
He said his long public service made him the right choice to lead the country to tackle economic, trade and diplomatic challenges.
The feud between the two prospective candidates has cast a shadow over the conservative party’s already difficult battle to retain the presidency, while policy debates have taken a back seat. The liberal frontrunner has begun unveiling business policy proposals and national security initiatives on North Korea’s military threat.
Both Han and Kim trail the liberal party’s Lee by a wide margin in opinion polls.
In two-way race scenarios, Lee has 44% support against Han’s 34%, while he leads Kim 43% to 29%, according to a National Barometer Survey released on Thursday.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Ju-min Park and Heekyong Yang; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Edmund Klamann)
