A nationwide interest is whether the Constitutional Court will finalize the review on the parliamentary impeachment accord and publicize its decision before its President Park Han-chul’s term expires on Jan. 31.

There are effectively 46 days left for the court to make a decision, before he leaves, given that the lunar New Year holidays run from Jan. 27-30. Many in the legal sector say the timeline is too tight, predicting that reaching a decision by the end of next month will be difficult to achieve.

The majority of citizens seem to expect that the court will undoubtedly accept the accord on impeaching suspended President Park Geun-hye. Their bigger concern is the timing of its conclusion, which will determine the date of the next presidential election.

A decision before the New Year holiday will make it legally possible for the country to carry out the election during the first quarter of 2017 -- or within 60 days of the incumbent president’s departure. The December presidential elections Korea has held every five years since 1987 are about to end.

Some people, including some Saenuri Party lawmakers, had argued for delaying the election as much as possible. Before the Assembly voted on the impeachment bill, they suggested a scheme in which Park voluntarily resigned at the end of next April.

Their logic was that voters should have sufficient time to review candidates to avoid repeating their mistakes.

This is nonsense. The victory of Park Geun-hye in the 2012 presidential race was not due to insufficient time given to voters.

Even if Park chooses to step down today, a 60-day campaign will pose little problem. The Constitution stipulates the period as a sufficient time in consideration of an abrupt vacancy of the national presidency.

Though Hwang Kyo-ahn is filling in as acting president, it is hard to deny that administrative glitches will continue for several months until the next president takes office.

The nation has “lost” nearly four years since February 2013 in the wake of the Park scandal involving her civilian confidantes’ influence-peddling. Paralysis in administrative affairs should be stopped as soon as possible.

The court’s chief Park and his eight colleagues have the obligation of promptly meeting the needs of the times, as the National Assembly fulfilled it successfully responding to citizens’ demands.

To encourage fast decision-making by the Constitutional Court, a fast-tracking of proceedings by the independent counsel is crucial. The counsel, which has launched its probe into the scandal, should secure evidence to prove Park’s violation of the Constitution and other laws as quickly as possible.

A showdown of the specially tasked investigators would be conducting a face-to-face interrogation of the president, who refused to respond the requests of the prosecution throughout November.

Park and her private attorney had promised to coordinate with the coming probe of the independent counsel. If Park further breaks her promise, no more leniency is needed -- she deserves to be arrested, regardless of the court’s review.

The prosecution, who has handed over its role to the counsel, has finished its probe of the scandal without conducting a face-to-face or written interview of Park. The investigative agency has also not arrested Kim Ki-chun or Woo Byung-woo -- two of several former presidential aides who are suspected of influence-peddling.

The counsel should work to prove the allegations that Kim and Woo, both of whom had worked at the prosecution before working for Cheong Wa Dae, turned a blind eye to the meddling in state affairs of civilians including Choi Soon-sil or low-key collusion with them and Park.

An adjournment in the court’s decision would add months to the nation’s lost years, though Korea should certainly allow its nine justices their political neutrality for a fair review.

In the meantime, the National Assembly should hasten to map out timetables of the presidential election according to several scenarios.

Citizens, the sovereign commanders of Republic of Korea, initiated the impeachment accord via historic demonstrations, and are still striving to save the nation from its present crisis.

The date of Park Geun-hye’s ouster will clearly be recorded here and overseas in school textbooks and the annals of history.