United New Democratic Party

Infobox Political Party
colorcode=Green
party_name=United New Democratic Party
party_logo=
leader= Son Hak-Gyu
foundation=August 5, 2007
headquarters= 15-16 Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu
Seoul, South Korea
ideology=Liberalism, Environmentalism
international=
website= [http://www.undp.kr undp.kr] The United New Democratic Party (Hangul: 대통합민주신당, Hanja: 大統合民主新黨, Abbreviation: UNDP) was a political party of South Korea. It was formed out of the Uri Party and its resulting splinter groups. Chung Dong-young was the UNDP candidate in the South Korean presidential election, 2007; he lost to Lee Myung-bak. On February 17, 2008 the party merger with the Democratic Party to form the United Democratic Party.

Brief History

The party was formed when loyalists to president Roh Moo-hyun in the Uri Party chose to break ranks from other party members who showed lukewarm support for the administration. Some 80 out of 152 lawmakers of the Uri Party joined the new party, a conservative-liberal minority group from the Hannara Party (lead by Son Hak-Gyu), and a group of progressive civil rights' group from outside South Korean politics are also joined, seeking to complete political reforms.

As a result of merge with the Uri Party, this party has been ranked as the biggest political party in the legislative by 140 of 298 seats(As of January 14, 2008). After receiving a 'shocked' result at the 2007 presidential election, the delegates of its party decided to elect a new leader, with adopting a 'Papal conclave'-style system. On January 11, with more than a half delegates' vote, Son Hak-Gyu was elected to lead at the upcoming parliamentary election. [ [http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/262538.html Sohn Hak-kyu chosen to lead United New Democratic Party] , the Hankyoreh, Retrieved on January 11, 2008]

Principles of policies

This party's platform emphasized these 4 key ideologies. [ [http://www.undp.kr/sub_info_platform.php Official Platform of the UNDP] (Korean), the UNDP, Retrieved on August 7, 2007]
* Democracy
* Peace
* Integration(Political)
* Environmentalism

Presidential election primary

Timeline

These list of key events has been managed by its public primary election committee(국민경선위원회). [ [http://undp.kr/dsn/sub_oprimary_p04.php The process of UNDP primary] , Public primary election committee of the UNDP, 2007]
*August 21 and August 22, 2007 - Official announcement has been made by its committee. Registration process has been done.
*August 25, 2007 - The full list of official candidate for the primary has been announced. 'Cut-off' process begins.
*August 27, 2007 - 'The policy debate' for its candidates has been done.
*September 5, 2007 - The result of cut-off election (to nominate 5 candidates to go to its primary) will be announced.
*September 5 to September 14, 2007 - Nationwide 'Policy debate'(tour) will be held in several cities.
*September 15 to October 14, 2007 - The primary election will be held in 8 multi-regional areas. ("see 'Results' for more details")
*October 14, 2007 - Chung Dong-young was elected as the official presidential candidate of the party.

Rules

* Cut-off process (August 25 ~ September 5)
** The official result of cut-off process has been combining a result from public poll(50%), and a poll result from its 10,000 randomly-selected delegates(50%). 'Public poll' has been conducted from all eligible voters (whether this party is in favour or not).
** Top-5 candidates who earn more votes will join to its official primary"(Result has been announced-see 'Candidates')"
* Primary election (September 15 ~ October 14) The official result of this primary combines all votes of these key methods. First-past-the-post and Electronic voting system is being used.
** 1. Regional Rounds from 8 multi-provincial divisions (see below)
** 2. The total number of 'Mobile vote' casted
** 3. Public opinion polls which conducted from October 8 to 14Method 1 and 2 grants exactly 90% of results (Method 3 grants 10%). The official candidate of this party will be nominated on October 14, just after the last regional rounds finishes. Due to the executives of this party's decision, All candidates did not contested during the Hangawi holidays and the 2007 Inter-Korean Summit periods.

Candidates

As of August 25, 2007, 9 politicians has been set up to their presidential bid. [ [http://www.undp.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=commentbriefing&wr_id=53 Daily Briefing of the UNDP] (Korean), Spokesperson of the UNDP, Retrieved on August 24, 2007] Before starting their official primary to the South Korean public, they have to access the 'cut-off' process to reduce from 9 to 5. [ [http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSS2D&office_id=001&article_id=0001736405 The cut-off of UNDP Primary will reduce from 9 to 5] (Korean), Yonhap, Retrieved on August 25, 2007] . Later, the number of candidates reduced to 3 after ex-Health and Welfare Minister Rhyu Si-min and former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook quit the race. [ [http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/09/116_10250.html Chung Dong-young Leads 3-Way Nomination Race ] ] Here's a list of official candidates of the UNDP primary that announced on September 5, 2007, 05:30GMT. [ [http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000705351&PAGE_CD=N0000&BLCK_NO=3&CMPT_CD=M0001&NEW_GB= Son Hak-gyu, Han Myeong-suk, Lee Hae-chan, Chung Dong-yong, Rhyu Si-min] (Korean), Ohmynews, Retrieved on September 5, 2007] (Placed in order. Not considered its cut-off results. Based as of September 23, 2007)

Results

election-table|Region!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Date!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Voters!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|turnout!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" width="15%" align=center|Son Hak-gyu!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" width="15%" align=center|Chung Dong-young!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" width="15%" align=center|Lee Hae-chan!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|Total
-
Ulsan and Jeju
September 15
84,257
18.9%
4,089(26.1%)
5,265(33.6%)
3,414(21.8%)
15,658
-
Gangwon and North Chungcheong
September 16
93,834
20.9%
5,279(26.9%)
8,645(44.0%)
5,511(28.1%)
19,626
-
Gwangju and South Jeolla
September 29
246,518　
22.63%
19,906(35.68%)
26,065(46.71%)
9,826(17.61%)
55,797　
-
Busan and South Gyeongsang
September 30
209,518　
14.61%
8,577(28.01%)
11,150(36.42%)
10,890(35.57%)
30,617　
-
Daejeon, South Chungcheong and North Jeolla
October 14 |

9,467(16.12%)
42,026(71.56%)
7,236(12.32%)
58,729
-
Incheon and Gyeonggi
October 14
|
16,747(41.88%)
16,142(40.37%)
7,098(17.75%)
39,987
-
Daegu and North Gyeongsang
October 14 |

3,547(38.96%)
2,706(29.72%)
2,851(31.32%)
9,104
-
Seoul
October 14 |

13,631(32.14%)
20,977(49.46%)
7,802(18.40%)
42,410
-
Mobile votes
October 4 - 14
238,725
74.33%
70,031(39.46%)
62,138(35.02%)
45,284(25.52%)
177,453
-
Opinion polls
October 8 - 14
align=center|-
align=center|-
17,525(35.34%)
21,850(44.06%)
10,216(20.60%)
49,591
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Total!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|1,969,156!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|25.18%!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|168,799(34.04%) !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|216,984(43.75%) !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|110,128(22.21%) !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|495,911

Source: [http://seoprise.com/board/view.php?uid=95694&table=seoprise_10&issue1=&issue2=&field_gubun=&level_gubun=&mode=&field=&s_que=&start=&month_intval= The current status of the UNDP Primary] , Seoprise.com, Retrieved on October 1, 2007.

Re-merge with Democratic Party

On 17th February 2008, UNDP merged with Democratic Party (민주당), forming United Democratic Party (통합민주당). This was four years after Uri Party (열린우리당)'s split from Millennium Democratic Party (새천년민주당). [ [http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/assembly/270197.html 통합민주당 공식 출범] , the Hankyoreh, Retrieved on 05 March, 2008]

ee also

*United Democratic Party
*Uri Party
*Liberalism
*Contributions to liberal theory
*Liberalism worldwide
*List of liberal parties
*Liberal democracy
*Politics of South Korea
*Liberalism in South Korea
*List of Korea-related topics

References

External links

* [http://www.undp.kr Official Homepage] ko icon (International homepage is under construction)
* [http://undp.kr/dsn Official Infopage for the 2007 presidential primary] ko icon