[Politics That Day] The Final Touch of Rigged Elections: 'Proxy Voting for Assembly Members'

In 2020, the Korean Party's Fierce Attack, with the Democratic Party Quietly Joining
"Trying to Deceive the People with Shallow Tricks" Self-Criticism
The 21st National Assembly Born from Hypocritical Politics

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min]

Editor's Note‘Politics, That Day...’ is a series planning corner that looks back on Korean politics through the ‘recollection of memories’ related to scenes, events, and figures that deserve attention.

On February 5, 2020, at the founding convention of the Future Korea Party held at the National Assembly, Representative Han Seon-gyo, who was elected as the party leader, is greeting Hwang Kyo-ahn, the leader of the Liberty Korea Party. The Future Korea Party is a satellite party created by the Liberty Korea Party in response to the semi-proportional representation system applied in the April 15 general election. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

"The Liberty Korea Party made history in party politics by replicating a party through the creation of the Future Korea Party. Using a trick in the form of swapping lawmakers, they strategically aimed to be assigned the front numbers on the proportional representation ballot."

This was the content of a briefing by the floor spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea on February 6, 2020. At that time, the Democratic Party launched a fierce attack on the Liberty Korea Party’s satellite party creation. It pointed out how shameful the act of creating a satellite party was.

"Trying to deceive the people with shallow tricks," "A declaration of tax theft"…

This is evidence showing how disgraceful the election process was that led to the formation of the current 21st National Assembly. In fact, it was true. From January to April 2020, Korean politics experienced a continuous series of shameful moments never seen before.

There was a political rationale for introducing the semi-linked proportional representation system to strengthen proportionality in the general election, but tricks were used during its implementation. The Liberty Korea Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) and the Democratic Party of Korea fell into the swamp of ‘shell game elections’ to secure stable proportional seats.

They turned their eyes to the trick of creating satellite parties. The Future Korea Party, a sister party (in fact a satellite party) of the Liberty Korea Party, was launched on February 5. At that time, the Liberty Korea Party leadership, including Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, attended the founding convention in large numbers. This shows the close relationship between the Liberty Korea Party and the Future Korea Party.

On April 2, 2020, when the official election campaign for the 21st National Assembly election began, residents in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, were looking at election posters. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The sharp criticism from the Democratic Party side was because Liberty Korea Party lawmakers moved to the Future Korea Party, making the newly formed satellite party a party with seats. In this case, when receiving the order number on the proportional representation ballot, the party gets a front number according to the number of seats.

The Democratic Party diagnosed this as an attempt to deceive the people with shallow tricks. It was not a wrong statement.

The problem was that the Democratic Party ended up having to bear the same criticism it had poured on the Liberty Korea Party. On March 25, the Democratic Party held a party meeting and began the expulsion process for some proportional representation lawmakers. The lawmakers were not expelled because of any problem.

They were expelled to move to the Democratic Party’s satellite party, the Democratic Citizens Party. Proportional representation lawmakers must be expelled from their original party to maintain their seats while engaging in political activities. Therefore, some lawmakers who chose not to run again and some proportional representation lawmakers moved their party affiliation to the Democratic Citizens Party.

"Our party did not force anyone to leave."

The Democratic Party seemed to be aware of the harsh gaze and issued this explanation. However, it could not avoid the blade of criticism that on February 6 it had directed at the Liberty Korea Party, accusing them of trying to deceive the people with shallow tricks.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

A shameful scene that should never be repeated. The crowning point of shell game politics was swapping lawmakers.

Through such a process, the proportional representation party numbers for the 21st general election in 2020 were decided. The Democratic Party of Korea and the Liberty Korea Party did not nominate their own proportional representation candidates, and satellite parties took on that role instead.

As a result, the Future Korea Party was assigned number 4, and the Democratic Citizens Party was assigned number 5. The Justice Party was pushed to number 6 because the Future Korea Party and the Democratic Citizens Party increased their seats before the general election by swapping lawmakers.

The Future Korea Party, which executed slightly more lawmaker swaps, achieved a party vote rate of 33.84%, narrowly surpassing the Democratic Citizens Party’s 33.35%. Through this process, the Future Korea Party secured 19 seats, and the Democratic Citizens Party secured 17 seats.

Many of these lawmakers have since changed their party affiliation to the current People Power Party and the Democratic Party. The hastily formed Future Korea Party and Democratic Citizens Party quietly disappeared into history after the general election.

The 21st National Assembly, launched through a trick election, is a shameful self-portrait of the lawmakers currently occupying the National Assembly building.