[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a plenary session on the 15th to pass amendments to the Public Official Election Act related to the delineation of electoral districts for the June 1 local elections.
At a meeting of floor leaders chaired by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok on the 12th, Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, reached this agreement, according to Song Eon-seok, senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party.
However, they have yet to find a consensus on the key issue of introducing a multi-member constituency system with three or more members for basic councils.
Regarding this, Speaker Park is reported to have proposed a pilot implementation of the multi-member constituency system in certain regions. The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to review Speaker Park’s proposal to decide whether to expand the system after the pilot or revert to the existing method.
In addition, the floor leaders agreed on passing a special investigation law for the probe into the death of late Sergeant Lee Ye-ram, a victim of sexual violence in the Air Force. Although the special investigation law was discussed at the plenary session on the 5th, it failed to pass due to issues such as the recommendation of special investigators.
Furthermore, regarding the confirmation hearing of Prime Minister nominee Han Deok-su, the floor leaders agreed that the chairperson of the special committee would be from the People Power Party, following the National Assembly’s convention of alternating the chairpersonship between the ruling and opposition parties.
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