The new electoral map was finally submitted to the National Assembly on Sunday, avoiding further confusion in the run-up to the April 13 general election, though coming in the face of an ongoing legislative confrontation over another set of controversial counterterrorism bills.

The electoral panel under the National Election Commission sent their final map for parliamentary review and endorsement 139 days after the initial deadline, and just 45 days before the slated election.

The submission comes amid the ongoing filibuster by opposition parties that has continued since Feb. 23 over the ruling party-endorsed antiterrorism bills the opposition opposes for their political intent and controversial scope of surveillance.

Dimming prospects of a quick passage of the electoral bill and further raising their stakes, the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea said Sunday afternoon that they would not cooperate with the new map unless changes are made on the counterterrorism bills.

The electoral bill is expected to reach plenary vote by Monday, drawing attention to whether it would suspend the record-breaking filibuster, force the parties to reach a dramatic compromise or extend the legislative confrontation.

The delayed redrawing of the map, which concluded with an increased number of representative constituencies from 246 to 253 by dissecting 16 constituencies and integrating nine others, also raised questions as to the efficacy of current election laws.

“We apologize to the people once again for missing the Oct. 13 legal deadline by far, due to internal and external hurdles,” said the electoral committee in a press statement.

The temporary committee has suffered from months of political wrangling inside and outside its discussion. While the members’ political independence is confirmed by law, it has been extensively compromised by sub-rules that allowed the rival parties to recommend their quota of members.

“There were structural limits to making decisions due to the rules on the member formation as well as the requirement of the two-thirds approval of attending members. ... In order for the constituency demarcation to become fair and stable, we desperately felt the need for the discussion to begin much more in advance and for the committee to become truly independent (from the parties),” the committee said. The committee admitted there were still loopholes in the new constituency maps, but that they had little choice to avoid further delays and confusion.

The bill is to go through the public affairs and administrative committee before being presented for the final plenary vote. The committee, in theory, can send the bill back for changes upon review.

The new constituency map allocates 122 seats for the metropolitan region that includes Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, up from the previous 112 seats. The decision is in line with the Constitutional Court’s 2014 ruling that the disparity in representation by population between the largest and the smallest constituencies be reduced to 2-to-1 from 3-to-1.

Districts to be given new constituencies include Gangseo-gu and Gangnam-gu in Seoul and Yeonsu-gu in Incheon. Gyeonggi Province will now have eight more seats up for grabs, while Chungcheong Province will have one more.

While the number of seats representing Busan is to remain 18, several districts will be redistributed, drawing protest from residents and preliminary candidates. North Gyeongsang Province will have two less seats. Jeolla and Gangwon provinces will have two and one less seats, respectively.

Meanwhile, the opposition party members continued their filibuster against the counterterrorism bills that they claim would undermine civil rights and bestow politically charged power over to the National Intelligence Service. The ruling Saenuri Party has been criticizing the marathon debate, slamming the opposition for holding hostage what they call crucial for national security against terror attempts from North Korea.

On Saturday, the Minjoo Party Rep. Jung Cheong-rae, the 17th speaker, became the latest to crack the record by talking for 11 hours and 39 minutes.

On Sunday afternoon the filibuster hit the 100-hour mark. The Assembly speaker and two vice speakers who had been taking turns presiding over the plenary session briefly asked heads of standing committees to take their place, citing their weakened strength to sit through the debate. The spectators’ benches have also been filled with citizens coming to witness the rare scene.
 
The opposition parties are intent on continuing with the filibuster until the antiterrorism bills are revised, or until the end of this extraordinary parliamentary period that ends March 10. The ruling Saenuri Party has been pressuring them to end it, citing imminently pending bills such as that for the electoral map.

While the main parties have been meeting on the sidelines for a compromise, no deal has yet come out.

The Minjoo Party demands a clause confirming the investigative right of the NIS be erased and for the Assembly’s Intelligence Committee to have stronger authority to screen and control the spy agency’s activities.

If the filibuster is put on hold, the ruling party aims to immediately put the counterterrorism bills up for a vote. 

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)