[Change the Election] ⑤ Choi Hyung-doo "Introduce Major District Proportional Representation in the Capital Area... Check Legislative Dictatorship"

Discrepancy Between Vote Share and Seats Most Severe in 21st National Assembly
Cities Apply Medium-Sized Constituencies, Local Areas Use Small-Sized Constituencies

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] "In a winner-takes-all system where winning means getting even one more vote, the majority party falls into the illusion that it has received much more public support."

Choi Hyung-doo, a member of the People Power Party and secretary of the bipartisan political reform lawmakers' group, said in an interview with Asia Economy, "In the 21st general election, the Democratic Party of Korea received 49.9% of the votes nationwide, while the People Power Party (then the United Future Party) received 41.5%. However, the actual constituency seats were 163 and 84 respectively, nearly twice the difference."

Including proportional representation seats, the Democratic Party, which secured 180 seats, brought up 'Exceptionalism' in the 21st National Assembly. Exceptionalism means that a country or society does not conform to ordinary rules and principles and is considered a core characteristic of U.S. foreign policy. Choi said, "There was a tradition and principle of the National Assembly established since the 1988 system, but the Democratic Party nullified all of it. The distribution of standing committees was like that, and there were many reckless legislative attempts. They pushed through the 'Media Arbitration Act' and 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)', and the worst was the premature 'Three Lease Laws'."

He added, "The Three Lease Laws were pushed through despite the foreseeable side effects on the market. In this process, the Democratic Party neutralized the agenda coordination committee to pass the bills, which was an act that destroyed the principles and traditions of parliamentary cooperation."

Interview_Cho Hyeong-du, Member of the People Power Party. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Choi said, "Seeing the tyranny and reckless legislation of the majority party to the extent that it can be called parliamentary dictatorship, there is a public will expressed through the 300 members, and to properly and evenly reflect that will, a system where the party vote share and the number of seats in the National Assembly converge is necessary to check the temptation of the 'One Ring'."

The National Assembly's Special Committee on Political Reform currently has four alternatives prepared. Among them, Choi proposed a mixed urban-rural large constituency system and a regional mixed-member proportional representation system. The core idea is to apply a large constituency system in urban areas such as the metropolitan area and a small constituency system in rural areas.

Choi said, "In the metropolitan area, Seoul has 49 constituencies, which are divided too finely by units of 200,000 people. However, there are no natural boundaries dividing these constituencies." He continued, "For example, Eunpyeong-gu, Seodaemun-gu, and Mapo-gu are connected by subway lines 3 and 6. There is a structure where one district mayor has two or three members of the National Assembly. This causes unnecessary neighborhood complaints and leads to budget waste because tasks that could be handled by the district office are done by the Assembly members." He added, "Rather than that, since it is difficult to artificially delineate constituencies in large cities like Seoul, why not group regions to elect about five members each? For example, Seocho-Gangnam and Songpa-Gangdong are already grouped as one education office district."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Instead, areas such as eup, myeon, and gun, which face extinction concerns and where constituency delineation is geographically based, should hold elections under the small constituency system. Choi explained, "In Yeongnam and Honam, the discrepancy between votes and seats is relatively small. Areas facing population decline or vast regions should elect members through the small constituency system."

Choi judged that proposals to increase the number of proportional representatives or reduce constituencies, presented by the Special Committee on Political Reform, are practically impossible. He said, "Increasing the number of lawmakers would have required efforts such as cutting salaries and restructuring the National Assembly, but it seems quite late now, and public resistance is strong, making progress difficult. Reducing constituencies would face internal resistance from lawmakers."

Choi emphasized that preventing wasted votes as much as possible through electoral system reform is essential for the National Assembly to regain trust. He said, "The government evaluated public trust in state institutions, and the National Assembly scored lower than the prosecution. There are criticisms that the Assembly blocks governance and practices 'vetocracy' rather than supporting and checking governance. For the Assembly to develop further, a system where vote shares and the number of seats converge is absolutely necessary."