Lee Jung-mi: "Next Year's General Election Must Be a Victory for the Opposition"

Justice Party New Year's Press Conference
"The Last Chance to Open Pluralistic Politics"
"Start with a One-Point Constitutional Amendment for Presidential Runoff Voting"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 17th, Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, called for "the birth of a National Assembly of the people in 2024 through political reform in 2023," proposing election system reform and a one-point constitutional amendment for the presidential runoff election system ahead of next year's general election.

At a New Year's press conference held at the National Assembly that day, Lee said, "Next year's general election is an election in which the opposition must win to put a brake on the historical regression of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding election system reform, she emphasized, "The Justice Party's basic position is to create a National Assembly that strengthens proportionality, representation, and diversity," adding, "The election system that can best reflect this is the mixed-member proportional representation system." On the reform toward the 'large multi-member district system' proposed by President Yoon Seok-yeol, she said, "It is difficult to strengthen proportionality and representation with only a 2-4 member large multi-member district system," and added, "It should be a supplemented and strengthened plan with a broader large multi-member district system content that can encompass proportionality and representation."

Lee explained that to properly reflect the voices of various political forces, the current presidential system with excessive powers must be revised. She then proposed, "If we cannot achieve reform of the entire power structure, let's first agree on a one-point constitutional amendment for the presidential runoff election system."

Lee said, "Looking at the current Yoon Seok-yeol administration, I think the limits of South Korea's presidential system have been reached," adding, "Power is concentrated unilaterally, and the endless arena of confrontation is ruining South Korean politics." She continued, "In that sense, reforms to create a pluralistic and cooperative space in the National Assembly and to overcome the excessive presidential system should be discussed together," and added, "In the next general election, it is necessary to achieve election system reform to create a pluralistic National Assembly and prepare to seriously discuss the power structure."

She also said, "I saw that Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, proposed two things at his New Year's press conference: presidential re-election and the runoff election system," adding, "The presidential re-election system is difficult to reach consensus on even within the People Power Party and requires very in-depth discussion, so I think the presidential runoff election system could be agreed upon within the National Assembly and be subject to a one-point constitutional amendment in the next general election."

On the day, Lee presented the 'three major labor-respecting policies' including the implementation of the safe freight rate system and the passage of the Yellow Envelope Act, as well as the 'five major livelihood recovery tasks' including securing 100 trillion won for the livelihood recovery fund, enacting a law to prevent empty housing leases, expanding employment retention support funds, and implementing a minimum rice price guarantee system.

Lee emphasized, "As the only progressive party in the National Assembly, the Justice Party will seriously reflect on what vested interests exist within us," adding, "We will prepare for a full-scale innovation and re-establishment of the party and move toward a general election victory for all the people."

The Justice Party plans to hold a national committee meeting on the 11th of next month to form a re-establishment promotion committee and decide on a series of processes for re-establishment. Along with this, work to elevate the Justice Party's vision and values will be carried out simultaneously until July, and the re-establishment work is scheduled to be completed in August to September.