[Change the Election]⑬ Yongho Lee "1 in 2 National Assembly Members Won't Be Seen Next Year"

21st First-Term Lawmakers Account for 50.3%
"No Guarantee of Winning Next Year Even If Current System Is Maintained"
Support for Increasing Regional Proportional Representation in Urban-Rural Mixed Electoral District System

"Even if the current election system is maintained, there is no guarantee that incumbent lawmakers will be re-elected."

On the 6th, Rep. Lee Yong-ho of the People Power Party said this in an interview with Asia Economy. Rep. Lee first became a member of the National Assembly in the 2016 general election as a member of the People's Party representing the Jeonbuk Namwon·Imsil·Sunchang area, and after opposing the merger of the People's Party and the Bareunmirae Party and leaving the party, he ran as an independent in the 21st general election and was elected.

He rejoined the People Power Party during the last presidential election process. At that time, Rep. Lee said, "Over the past few years, I thought that politics of division, politics of splitting, and such activist politics should no longer continue," adding, "I want to do politics that makes a country where common sense prevails. I will do my best to promote regional integration and generational integration together," explaining his reason for joining the party.

Interview_Lawmaker Lee Yong-ho of the People Power Party. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

However, Rep. Lee expressed concern that the political circle, one year ahead of next year's general election, has little interest in revising the election law for regional integration. He said, "No matter what electoral system is introduced, as long as you get the nomination, that's enough. They seem to be focusing only on that, so there is little deep consideration about the election system," and emphasized, "Even if the election system remains the same, incumbent lawmakers are not necessarily re-elected."

He pointed out that the proportion of first-term lawmakers in past general elections has approached an average of 50%. In the 17th general election, the proportion of first-term lawmakers was 62.5%, 44.8% in the 18th, 49.3% in the 19th, 42.3% in the 20th, and 50.3% in the 21st. Rep. Lee said, "In other words, only 37% of lawmakers were re-elected in the 17th general election," adding, "Four out of ten lawmakers did not retain their seats." He continued, "At least one out of two lawmakers will be hard to see next year, but they live with the hope that if the current election system is maintained, they will be elected next year," and said, "That hope should be abandoned."

Rep. Lee expected that regionalism would be alleviated through election system reform. In addition to a mixed urban-rural electoral district system, he proposed expanding proportional representation seats as regional representatives rather than based on population. First, if large cities adopt a medium-sized electoral district system and rural areas maintain a single-member district system, the number of constituency lawmakers would decrease by about 10 seats. He argued that proportional representation should be increased accordingly to expand regional representation. He said, "Since we do not have an upper and lower house, there are few lawmakers with regional representation, so instead of simply dividing proportional representation seats by number, it would be good to distribute them fairly among six regional blocks." He expected that if proportional representation seats are evenly distributed and function like U.S. senators, regional balance can be achieved and regional sentiments would be significantly alleviated.

The National Assembly will hold a plenary committee meeting attended by all members of the National Assembly for the first time in 19 years starting on the 10th to discuss election system reform. Discussions will begin based on three proposals put forward by the Special Committee on Political Reform: ▲mixed urban-rural medium-sized electoral district system + regional and parallel proportional representation system ▲open-list large electoral district system + national and parallel proportional representation system ▲single-member district system + regional and semi-linked proportional representation system.

Rep. Lee applied to speak on the first day of the plenary committee meeting. He said, "The disadvantage of the single-member district system, which is winner-takes-all, can be greatly compensated if large cities switch to a medium-sized electoral district system," adding, "If a medium-sized electoral district system is introduced in large cities, it will be possible for various parties to emerge that can accommodate diverse agendas in our country."

Interview_Lawmaker Lee Yong-ho of the People Power Party. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Regarding rural areas, he believed that the single-member district system should be maintained because there are electoral districts combining several local government bodies. Rep. Lee said, "The number of lawmakers in large cities is increasing, while the number of rural area lawmakers is decreasing," adding, "Since large cities are overrepresented, the number of lawmakers in large cities should be reduced, and rural areas should be maintained."

Rep. Lee expressed support for the mixed-member proportional representation system introduced in the last election. While satellite parties of the 'tteotdabang' type should be avoided, he believes that new parties emerging during elections to reflect the times and being judged by elections is necessary. He said, "There should be various parties with different spectrums from time to time, and various parties should form coalitions," adding, "No single party should dominate unilaterally." He continued, "Conditions should be created so that parties that serve as buffers to prevent intense clashes between the two major parties can be formed through elections."