[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Liberty Korea Party has been revived. On the 21st, the National Election Commission announced the formation report of the Liberty Korea Party's Preparatory Committee. The founder of the preparatory committee is an official of the United Future Party and is the same person as the chairman of the preparatory committee of the Future Korea Party, the proportional representation party of the United Future Party.
The reason the Liberty Korea Party, which disappeared with the launch of the United Future Party, was re-established is due to 'preemptive registration.' The preparatory committee was formed to prevent the party name Liberty Korea Party from being taken away. Chairman Oh Young-cheol of the preparatory committee explained the purpose of the founding in a phone interview with Asia Economy, saying, "We received reports that there are people trying to privatize and misuse the party name Liberty Korea Party."
During the 19th general election, there was also a case where a conservative party name was preempted to cause vote splitting. Although the Grand National Party was relaunched as the Saenuri Party, a group appeared that copied the name Grand National Party and formed a party. This party received 0.85% of the proportional representation vote, totaling 181,822 votes.
With the introduction of the mixed-member proportional representation system intensifying competition for proportional seats, 'preemptive registration of preparatory committees' has been used as a kind of strategy. It involves founding parties with similar names to preempt the opposing camp's party names to split votes or to consolidate votes for the supported party. An example is the Proportional Democracy Party, which borrowed the name of the Democratic Party but issued a statement intending to judge the Democratic Party. However, there are concerns that the proliferation of preparatory committees may confuse voters. It is also pointed out as a problem that preparatory committees mainly use words like 'Mirae' (Future) and 'Minju' (Democratic), giving a similar impression.
Chairman Oh previously served as the chairman of the United Future Party's secretariat labor union and as the chairman of the Future Korea Party's preparatory committee. The same party official attempted to found parties twice. He explained, "This was not directed at the party level but was autonomously organized by people with aligned intentions according to the Political Parties Act. It was done with a desperate desire to prevent even a single vote from being split. The founders include party officials as well as general party members."
The National Election Commission expressed a cautious stance regarding consecutive party formations by the same individual or the proliferation of preparatory committees. Since it could infringe on the freedom of political parties, sanctions should be minimized. A commission official said, "The Constitution and the Political Parties Act broadly guarantee the freedom of party activities, so restrictions cannot be imposed arbitrarily."
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