The Election Commission to Decide Early Next Week on Allowing 'Biryedang'... Korean Party's Satellite Party on Alert

Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Liberty Korea Party, Shim Jae-cheol, floor leader, and other lawmakers and party officials are giving New Year's greetings to the public on the steps in front of the main building of the National Assembly on the 2nd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The decision on whether to allow party names including 'Proportional' such as Proportional Liberty Korea Party will be made around early next week. The party name is a key issue in Liberty Korea Party's satellite party strategy exclusively for proportional representatives. If disallowed, setbacks are inevitable.

On the 9th, an official from the National Election Commission stated, "Around early next week, the election commissioners will deliberate and decide whether party registration is possible for the preparatory committees using the term 'Proportional' in their names."

The Political Parties Act states that "the name (including abbreviation) of a preparatory committee or political party must be clearly distinguishable from names already registered or in use by other preparatory committees or registered parties." The Election Commission makes judgments based on this provision on a case-by-case basis.

An Election Commission official said, "Since preparatory committees using the term 'Proportional' are currently being promoted and more applications may come in the future, we intend to establish unified standards regarding party names containing the term 'Proportional.' We will review including existing party names and abbreviations. However, who is promoting the party formation is not a consideration," adding that they will only examine whether the new party name is similar to existing parties and causes confusion among voters.

The Election Commission announced the registration of the preparatory committee for the Proportional Liberty Korea Party, a satellite party of the Korea Party, the day before. Its location is the Korea Party's central office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. 'Proportional Korea Party,' promoted by conservative figures not affiliated with the Korea Party, and 'Proportional Democratic Party,' whose promoters are unknown, are also underway.

From the Korea Party's perspective, they must choose a satellite party name that minimizes confusion among their supporting voters. However, since the name simply adds 'Proportional' to the existing party name, it is difficult to guarantee approval.

Looking at past cases, the party name 'Progressive Party' in 2011 was disallowed due to similarity with the existing Progressive New Party, and in 2015, the name 'New Democratic Party' was also disallowed for being indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. Previously, the New Millennium Democratic Party was allowed.