'Not Even Started Discussing'... Ruling Party: "Consensus on Major Election System, Difficult for Next Year's General Election"

General Agreement on the Need for Multi-Member Constituency System
Possibility of Application in Next Year's General Election Seen as "Difficult"
"Special Committee Members Have Not Yet Been Decided"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The People Power Party has reached a certain consensus that the large multi-member district system proposed by President Yoon Seok-yeol is necessary as an alternative to the single-member district system, but they believe it is difficult to apply it starting from the next general election.

On the 4th, after holding a meeting with the ruling party's Political Reform Special Committee members at the National Assembly floor leader's office, Floor Leader Joo Ho-young told reporters, "Generally, the large multi-member district system guarantees seats according to the number of votes and aims for a multi-party system rather than the drawbacks of two-party politics, so there was a discussion to try to move toward the large multi-member district system as much as possible."

The People Power Party plans to listen to expert opinions at the party level, organize their views, and then hold a policy caucus in the future. Floor Leader Joo explained, "We had experts present papers and opinions on the pros and cons of the single-member and medium-sized district systems, and then organized the opinions. Once the Political Reform Special Committee matures the discussion, the information will be provided to the lawmakers, and their opinions will be gathered through the policy caucus."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, the ruling party's position is that it is difficult to reorganize the electoral system into a large multi-member district system starting from next year's general election. Lee Yang-su, the secretary of the Political Reform Special Committee, said, "The Speaker of the National Assembly and the special committee members are eager, but realistically, the process of gathering public opinion and listening to expert opinions must be conducted simultaneously, so it is unlikely that a conclusion will be reached next month."

Lee added, "Introducing the large multi-member district system in next year's election is difficult because interests are sharply divided and voters' opinions vary by region. For example, Democratic Party lawmakers in the Busan area might want this to happen quickly, but lawmakers in the Honam region and rural areas have constituents who would not easily agree." He said, "Even if a pilot implementation is done, applying it from the election five years later could reduce resistance."

Floor Leader Joo said regarding the electoral system reform discussion, "I think it is better to do it as soon as possible, but the People Power Party has not set a deadline for 'must be done by a certain time.' Legally, it is supposed to be finalized by April, but that has not been observed so far."

It is also known that the ruling party's special committee members have not reached a consensus on the large multi-member district system. Lee said, "Even among the special committee members, they are aware of the differences between rural and urban areas, so they cannot readily decide which is correct."