◀ Again ▶
Since the Democratic Party of Korea concluded yesterday that it will practically maintain the “semi-connected proportional representation system”, the political world’s preparations for the general elections are also accelerating again in line with this.
As the emergence of satellite parties once again became inevitable, the original aim of semi-linked proportional representation, which was to open the National Assembly more widely to minority parties, was no longer achieved this time.
Journalist Shin Jae-woong will explain this election system in more detail and report on the situation of both parties.
◀ Report ▶
In general elections, each voter casts two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a political party.
The total number of seats in the National Assembly is 300, of which only 47 are proportional seats, excluding members of local constituencies.
The “parallel model,” in place until the general election eight years ago, distributes these 47 seats based on party turnout.
Since voter turnout for political parties has been high for large political parties, large political parties that have already won constituencies have also taken most of the proportional representation seats.
Therefore, the “linked” proportional representation system is intended to give minority parties the opportunity to advance in parliament.
We will compare the parallel type and the connected type.
If a party fails to win a single seat in a local constituency and obtains 10% of the votes in elections with proportional representation, in the parallel model there are 0 members of the local constituency and 10% of the total 47 proportional representative members, so 4 ,7 people or 4 to 5 seats.
The connected typology instead guarantees 10% of the 300 total seats, therefore it has 30 seats, but since there are 0 local deputies, it has 30 proportional seats.
However, the semi-connected system that will be implemented in this general election plans to connect only half of the polling stations, taking up only 15 seats, which is half of the 30 seats.
Minor parties have a big difference: 4 to 5 seats for the parallel type versus 15 seats for the semi-connected type.
Although the results may be slightly different in real-world application, the threshold for minority parties that have difficulty winning in local constituencies to enter the National Assembly will be lowered.
However, this will be of no use if the major political parties create separate “satellite parties”.
Indeed, in the last general elections, which were held under a “semi-connected system”, a satellite party obtained the proportional representation votes of the two main political parties.
The Democratic Party of Korea held a general meeting of members and completed the consensus process by supporting Representative Lee Jae-myung’s position on the theory that satellite parties are inevitable.
[이재명/더불어민주당 대표]
“It was an urgent situation in which (the people’s) will to sovereignty was inevitably distorted, so if I were to express it, I might say that it was self-defense, or something like that, so I actually created a quasi-satellite party then.”
Practical preparations for the creation of an “integrated proportional political party” began immediately, and the participation of the so-called Cho Kuk and Song Young-gil’s new party is also fundamental.
The People’s Power Party, which has pledged to create a satellite party if it does not return to the parallel system soon, has argued that the Democratic Party’s satellite party is a channel through which activist forces can enter the National Assembly.
[한동훈/국민의힘 비상대책위원장]
“I told you that eliminating the privileged forces of the activist group is an important spirit of this general election. Through this satellite party system, the way has been opened for the most privileged activists to become members of the National Assembly…”
The satellite party, which even decided on the name “People’s Future”, should soon coordinate the launch date.
This is Shin Jae-woong from MBC News.
Video Coverage: Koo Bon-won / Video Editing: Yoon Chi-young
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