A contentious bill on electoral reform will likely be put to a vote at the National Assembly on Friday, after a three-day filibuster led by the main opposition group ended at the stroke of midnight Wednesday.
Rep. Lee In-young, the ruling Democratic Party’s floor leader, made clear Thursday the party’s determination to push for its passage, despite the main opposition’s continuing resistance. Having forged a coalition on the issue with four minor groups, the Democratic Party has enough votes to ensure its passage.
“A new extra parliamentary session begins today and we will handle the delayed bills on election rules, prosecution reform and others without failure, once a voting session convenes,” he told a meeting of party leaders.
(Yonhap)
The largest opposition Liberty Korea Party vowed to mobilize all possible means to block the election law revision, with Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn calling it “evil” and “anti-constitutional.”
“We cannot just sit back and watch an evil law to be enacted,” said Hwang, who is currently hospitalized for deteriorated health following an eight-day hunger strike against the change earlier this month.
Under the Democratic Party-led election law revision, the number of directly elected seats and proportional representation slots will be kept at 253 and 47, respectively, in the 300-member National Assembly.
But a new calculation system will be applied to allocated 30 of the 47 proportional representation slots, in order to give more seats to parties that win fewer constituency seats despite getting more actual votes.
During the filibuster, the Liberty Korea Party declared that it will protest the rule change by setting up a one-off “satellite” party and handle the upcoming April 15 elections as two entities, a clear manipulation of the envisioned new seat distribution system.
It claimed the manipulation will clearly show how “unconstitutional and uncivilized” the revision is. With two entities -- one fielding only constituency candidates and the other only proportional representation candidates -- the conservative bloc could theoretically secure more seats.
The ruling party and four minor groups are expected to push for the handling of another contentious bill on prosecution reform next week, after the election law is amended.
From news reports (
khnews@heraldcorp.com)
