General politics : Politics : News : The Hankyoreh

The National Assembly will hold a full committee meeting for two weeks from the 27th to begin discussions on reforming the electoral system for members of the National Assembly. Before the general election, a wide public forum was prepared where 300 lawmakers could express their beliefs against the whole nation in a live broadcast meeting on the task of political reform, which was repeatedly blocked by the bipartisan conflict. Jeon Jeon-cheol (Democratic Party of Korea), Hae-jin Jo (People’s Power), and Shim Sang-jeong (Justice Party), are responsible for the planning committee of the ‘bipartisan political reform meeting’ which has 144 members to him from the ruling and the opposition parties, he said in a discussion held on the 20th, “The holding of each committee is Even if all the centrifugal force of electoral reform cannot be controlled, the smallest centripetal force can is created.” Instead of first deciding on a party’s argument over the electoral system and holding a debate, it is worth looking forward to a “procedural reversal” where each party will draw up its party’s argument after the debate. The participants shared the common view that the core of reform is ultimately “how much to expand the seats of proportional representation.” In order to do that, there is no choice but to significantly reduce 253 constituency seats or increase the total number of seats by 300. At the moment, the power of the people, the ruling party, put the brakes on holding all the committees on the 20th for the reason that ‘expanding the number of members’ was included in the three electoral reform plans prepared by the National Assembly’s Political Committee. Special Reform Committee as a basis for each committee’s discussion. The Democrats are also lukewarm. The participants predicted that “it will not be realistically easy because of public opinion” to increase the number of legislators.

society: Although the committee’s full meeting is approaching in a week’s time, the leadership of each party is lukewarm about reforming the electoral system.
Justice Party member Sim Sang-jeong (hereinafter referred to as Shim): Reforming the electoral system will feel like a thorn in the neck from the point of view of the leadership of each party. I am worried that if I swallow this, I will be harmed. Both parties are still looking forward to next year’s general election on the basis of confrontational politics. However, it is an arrogant idea to predict the good or bad of next year’s general election now.
People Power Congressman Cho Hae-jin (hereafter referred to as Joe): Our party has a strong negative atmosphere about the current system, which was physically blocked in the last National Assembly, but failed to stop in the end. There is no partisan debate, but there is a tendency that the central urban-rural constituency system or the small constituency system should be returned before introducing the system and the parallel proportional representation system. He raised the issue of expanding the number of legislators in the special committee on political reform, but our party’s legislators, members of our party, and supporters strongly oppose it.
Jeon Hae-cheol of the Democratic Party (former): Usually, for other agendas, each party decides on a party line and the leadership negotiates, but reforming the electoral system has not been successful, so it is resolved in the form of a full committee. Of course, as the will of the leadership is important in tying the conclusions after the full committee, we intend to continuously ask the leadership of our party for a role.

society: Any system has its advantages and disadvantages. Which system do you think is the ‘top line’ at the moment?
jeon: It should be as realistic an ideal as the ruling opposition parties and the public can agree on. Based on my personal opinion, I believe that the single member constituency system and the interlocking proportional representation system by region are realistic. The proportion of proportional representation should be at least 3 (constituency) to 1 (proportional) and, if possible, 2 to 1. Currently, the number of seats is approximately 200 to 100 and 225 to 75.
article: It seems that the people believe that it is necessary to overcome the structure of regional division and political polarization and break down the uniformity of values. In order to realize that, it is necessary to reduce the ‘resignation’ and implement the equality of the votes. The best institutional way to achieve that would be a system of linked proportional representation, but the degree of expansion of large constituencies appears to be a realistic alternative.
centre: As you know, our party won 9.8% of the party vote in the last general election. However, reforming the electoral system was frustrating, and party members felt very discouraged. Again, the key is to coordinate the views of both parties, so we watch carefully. It is our position that he will openly accept any plan that guarantees representation and proportionality beyond the current system.

society: Controversy over expanding the number of legislators is hot. how do you see
article: Our party mainly talks about freezing or reducing the number of legislators to the current 300. If the constituency is reduced to increase the share, there is a possibility that it will encounter immediate opposition from the residents of the constituency. However, the method of increasing the total number of seats directly expresses the resistance of the whole people. It is a big task to come up with a solution in the process of public discussion.
jeon: The number of legislators needs to be expanded. The average of the 34 OECD countries is 91,000 people per member of the National Assembly, but Korea has 167,000 people. The problem is that there is still not enough public consensus. Therefore, I believe that the number of contributory representatives should be increased within the current 300.

society: What is the realistic solution to the problem of proportional representative satellite parties in the 21st National Assembly?
article: When the members of the Special Committee on Political Reform went on a business trip to Germany, an official of the German parliament was asked, ‘Why is there no satellite party here?’ There is a purpose in creating the system, but why would the meaning be removed? Only through such a national and social agreement can we prevent satellite parties from ignoring the purpose of the system.
centre: The satellite party incident should not be repeated again, but there are some people who talk about sister parties like ‘Lee Jun-seok’s Party’ and ‘Kim Eo-jun’s Party’ Doesn’t that also expand the freedom of party activities? The key to reforming the electoral system is to open up the possibility of a third party. The right direction is to open space for a third party under the multi-party system and go through the process of experimenting with coalition politics based on that.
jeon: In the last National Assembly, the power of the people did not agree to reorganize the electoral system, so a satellite party was created, and the Democratic Party also failed to overcome the situation. This time, I think we can block it sufficiently through national consensus and the consensus of all parties.

society: The fundamental stumbling block to electoral reform is the low level of trust in the National Assembly.
centre: The National Assembly is cheap even if the people don’t trust it. During the 20th National Assembly, 20,000 text messages (comments) were sent a day when a proposal was made to increase the number of legislators by 60, but I did not see any comments agreeing to the increase. Although he received a lot of scolding for carrying a gun, he evaluates himself as being reprimanded for the lack of politics. Last year, I introduced five major bills to reduce privileges. It is right to show first that it will be bold to innovate, such as the empty stock and real estate trust for members of the National Assembly and the abolition of the privilege not to arrest.

society: Looking at the current situation, sweeping reforms, such as increasing the number of legislators or introducing the presidential constituency system, seem difficult. Can the extreme confrontational politics of the two major parties be resolved with a little reform?
jeon: One system and one reform cannot change the political culture of all conflicts and conflicts. In order to correct this time and improve the deficiencies, a new system can be created again two to three years later. This opportunity is valuable because we need to move towards devolved constitutional improvement based on electoral reform.
centre: Democracy is diversity. Politics representing irregular young workers, politics representing elderly people who have devoted themselves beyond the barley hill… . I think that if we open a waterway for citizens who are alienated from politics to come in and make a small hole in the embankment, one day the waterway will come and go and the embankment will collapse.
article: I believe that the process of creating the greatest common denominator by thinking together with the politicians and the people can renew the people’s opinion about politics. If such a process goes smoothly, hopefully there will be an opportunity to challenge the constitutional system at a national level.

Reporter Lim Jae-woo abbado@hani.co.kr Reporter Um Ji-won umkija@hani.co.kr Reporter Seon Dam-eun sun@hani.co.kr