[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 1st, the United Future Party condemned Speaker Park Byeong-seok's forced assignment of standing committees and the unilateral election of standing committee chairs, and submitted a petition for a constitutional dispute adjudication to the Constitutional Court.
103 members of the United Future Party claimed that the Speaker's forced assignment of standing committees, which was carried out twice on the 15th and 29th of last month, violated Article 48, Paragraph 1 of the National Assembly Act and infringed upon the people's representative rights guaranteed to each member of the National Assembly under the Constitution, and thus filed a petition for a constitutional dispute adjudication with the Constitutional Court.
The petition also included a request to confirm the invalidity of the election of chairs of 16 standing committees and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, which were based on the invalid forced assignments.
The United Future Party pointed out, "The legal nature of the Speaker's authority to appoint members to standing committees is merely a neutral procedural authority as a representative of the National Assembly," and added, "Even in the assignment of standing committees, members of the National Assembly must adhere to the constitutional value of the representative democracy principle, representing the entire nation."
They continued, "Considering the scope and process, including the fact that negotiations on the formation of the original committees were underway among the representatives of negotiation groups and that forced assignments were made to all 103 members of the United Future Party, this exceeded the appropriate scope of authority granted to the Speaker," and added, "Forcing assignments without providing each member of the National Assembly with at least minimal opportunities to express their opinions or undergo a consultation process regarding standing committee assignments clearly infringes upon the people's representative rights of each member of the National Assembly."
The United Future Party urged, "Although the people's representative rights of each member, as constitutional institutions, should be respected, the Speaker's forced assignment of standing committees in secrecy without any criteria is an illegal act that undermines the democratic legitimacy of the 103 elected members of the National Assembly," and called on the Constitutional Court to immediately confirm its invalidity.
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