The National Assembly’s Special Committee on Political Reform recently adopted a resolution to improve the election system for members of the National Assembly, with the objective of maintaining a total of 300 seats. The resolution includes three plans, which are a combination of medium and small constituency systems, a presidential constituency system, and maintaining the existing single-member constituency system. Plan one was proposed by the power of the people, while the Democratic Party of Korea proposed plans two and three. The resolution will be passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly, with the all-members committee discussing and coming up with a single bill. The committee is expected to meet for five to six hours a day, five to seven times for two weeks from the 27th onwards. The final reform bill is expected to be processed at the plenary session on the 28th of next month. On CBS Radio, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo also proposed a plan to increase the number of seats to 310.
From the 27th, all committees of the National Assembly are discussed
Consultation on measures to prevent the creation of satellite political parties
Decided not to increase castrates criticized by the public
Kim Jin-pyo proposes 310 seats
Nam In-soon (far right), chairman of the Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly, taps the gavel at the plenary meeting of the Special Committee on Political Reform held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. The Special Committee on Political Reform adopted a resolution on reorganizing the electoral system on the premise of maintaining the current number of lawmakers at 300 seats. Reporter Janghwan Oh
The Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly held a plenary meeting on the 22nd and passed a resolution on the improvement of the election system for members of the National Assembly, with the main goal being to maintain 300 seats.
The three plans that were resolved on the day are ▲ medium constituency system (urban-rural constituency system) + regional and concurrent proportional representation system ▲ open-list large constituency system + national and concurrent proportional representation system ▲ small constituency system + regional and quasi-linked proportional representation system . Plan 1 was proposed by the power of the people, and Plans 2 and 3 were proposed by the Democratic Party of Korea.
The first plan is a combination of the medium constituency system in cities where 3 to 5 people are elected from one constituency and the small constituency system in rural areas where one person is elected from one constituency. The proportional representation distribution method is changed from a semi-interlocked type to a parallel type, and the regions are divided into 7 to 17 areas. Plan 2 is a presidential constituency system in which 4 to 7 people are selected from one constituency. Political parties submit lists of candidates, and electors vote for one party and one candidate respectively. The distribution of seats in constituencies is calculated by multiplying each party’s percentage of votes by the number of seats. Proportional representatives are elected on a nationwide basis, but are changed to a parallel type. In the third plan, the existing single-member constituency system is maintained, and the proportional representative distribution method maintains the semi-interlocked type as it is now, but divides the district into six. In the case of the semi-linked type, it was decided to discuss a separate plan as it is difficult to legally prevent the creation of a satellite party.
On the 17th, the Special Committee on Political Reform held a political-related law improvement subcommittee and passed a resolution on the improvement of the election system for members of the National Assembly, which contains three electoral reform plans. Two of the three proposals were about increasing the number of lawmakers to 350, but as public criticism intensified, the ruling and opposition parties agreed not to increase the number.
The resolution of the Special Committee on Reform will be passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 23rd. Afterwards, the all-members committee will discuss and come up with a single bill. It is expected that the committee will be held 5 to 6 hours a day, 5 to 7 times for two weeks from the 27th. National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo plans to process the final reform bill at the plenary session on the 28th of next month. Rep. Jeon Jae-soo, secretary of the opposition party, said, “The resolution adopted today is not at all a guideline for future discussions on the full committee. It is only a formality to open the door to all committees,” he explained, “and 300 people will express their opinions on the election system they prefer according to their conscience and beliefs.”
The ‘bipartisan meeting of political reform lawmakers’ received signatures in favor of 83 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties regarding the holding of the full committee. Under the National Assembly Act, in order for a bill to pass through a committee to be referred to all committees, the consent of at least one-fourth of the current lawmakers is required. The floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties are expected to submit a consent form to the National Assembly’s parliamentary committee soon.
Meanwhile, on CBS Radio, Chairman Kim also proposed a plan to increase the number of seats in the National Assembly to 310 by reducing the number of constituency seats and expanding proportional representative seats. Chairman Kim said, “If we go to the single-seat constituency system, if we reduce the number of seats in the (regional constituency) by 10, if we ask the people, ‘Since we reduced 10 seats, please increase them by 10 seats’, the minimum number of proportional representation will be increased.”
Reporters Lee Min-young and Kim Ga-hyun
The process of improving the election system for members of the National Assembly is underway with the Special Committee on Political Reform passing a resolution on the 22nd. The aim of this resolution is to maintain 300 seats and contains three plans, which were proposed by both the power of the people and the Democratic Party of Korea. All of the plans have unique features that are worth considering. After discussions, a single bill will be created, and National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo plans to process the final reform bill by the 28th of next month. The committee expects to hold 5 to 6 hours of discussions for five to seven times over two weeks, starting from the 27th. With the bipartisan meeting of political reform lawmakers receiving support from 83 lawmakers across the ruling and opposition parties, the resolution will soon be passed to the National Assembly’s parliamentary committee. Let us hope these discussions lead to the creation of an election system that better reflects the preferences of the Korean people.