The National Assembly completely ignores the ‘Public Official Election Act’… When will ‘electoral district delimitation’ take place?

As the ‘constituency delineation’ for the general election of National Assembly members was not completed even about 70 days before the general election, the National Assembly was once again unable to avoid criticism for ‘dereliction of duty.’ The National Assembly, a legislative body, is completely ignoring the Public Official Election Act, which requires constituencies for National Assembly members to be confirmed at least one year before the election date. The biggest reason is that even though the ruling and opposition parties have reached a consensus on changing the current national proportional representation system to a regional proportional representation system, they are drawing parallel lines in the proportional representation distribution method.

In order to prevent satellite parties, the People Power Party has decided on a plan to reform the electoral system, which includes abolishing the semi-linked system and reintroducing the existing parallel system instead. The parallel system divides seats proportionally according to the party’s vote rate regardless of the number of seats in the district, and is a system that was applied until the 20th National Assembly. On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Korea is mulling over whether to maintain the current semi-linked system, which was also a pledge in the last presidential election, or to return to the parallel system. There are calls within the party to maintain the semi-linked system but create a separate law to prevent satellite parties, but this is due to concerns that realistically the emergence of satellite parties cannot be prevented.

With a busy way to go, the Democratic Party has decided to delegate the authority to decide on the party’s platform regarding the electoral system to be applied in the general election to Representative Lee Jae-myung, so the decision is expected to be delayed even further.

Previously, Kang Seon-woo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, met with reporters after the party’s Supreme Committee meeting on the 2nd and said, “We decided to delegate the authority to determine the party’s position regarding the electoral system to Representative Lee Jae-myung.” Spokesperson Kang said, “It was decided at the highest level to give comprehensive delegation (to CEO Lee),” and “the subsequent procedures have not yet been decided.” To the subsequent question, “Is there no need to hold a general meeting of lawmakers?” he answered, “Even that is open,” and “There was open communication at the highest level regarding the election system.”

On the 3rd, the People Power Party strongly urged Representative Lee to express his position, saying that the decision on the electoral system to be applied to the general election was delayed due to the Democratic Party. Spokesperson Ho Jun-seok said in a commentary that day, “The confirmation of the electoral system is being delayed due to the Democratic Party’s political tricks,” and criticized it as “a dereliction of duty that infringes on the people’s right to vote.” Spokesperson Ho said of the Democratic Party’s delegation of authority to decide on the proportional system, “This is not a surprising decision as the Democratic Party has now become a ‘pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-Myung) heaven and earth.'” He added, “It is an urgent time.” Representative Lee was pushed to reveal his position as soon as possible.

Spokesperson Ho also said, “The longer the confirmation of election rules is delayed, the more confusion there will be for not only prospective candidates but also voters.” “I am appalled by the irresponsibility and incompetence behind the scenes,” he said.

The demarcation plan of the National Assembly Constituency Demarcation Committee (Degration Committee) under the National Election Commission, which came out just a month before the 21st general election in 2020, was 354 days later than the relevant regulations. During the 20th general election, expectations were high as the National Election Commission was first launched as an independent agency under the National Election Commission, but the demarcation plan was only released on March 2, 2016, 42 days ahead. In the previous 17th general election, electoral district demarcation was completed on the 37th, on the 47th on the 18th, and on the 44th on the 19th. In this way, electoral district demarcation is often done right before election day. This is because there is no proper sanction for violating the legal deadline, and there is fierce conflict between the ruling and opposition parties over constituency adjustment.

Reporter Kim Dong-hwan [email protected]

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