Opposition Party Leaning Toward Independent Candidacy?..."Blocked by 75 Members"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, remarked, "What's the use of losing stylishly?" Amid speculation that the Democratic Party, which initially promised to 'maintain the mixed-member proportional representation system and prevent satellite parties,' might revert to the parallel proportional representation system or establish satellite parties, reports have emerged that the party is leaning toward a return to the parallel system. However, the leadership drew a line, stating, "No position has been decided yet."

Park Joo-min, the Democratic Party's senior deputy floor leader, said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' on the 6th, "Reporters have called a lot about the news reports, but the party leadership has not yet decided on a position."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Following Lee's comment, "What's the use of losing stylishly?" even floor leader Hong Ik-pyo's remark, "Do we have to keep all promises?" has led to analyses suggesting a hint at reverting to the parallel proportional representation system or forming satellite parties. Amid this, Channel A exclusively reported that the Democratic Party has settled on returning to the parallel proportional representation system.

In response, Deputy Floor Leader Park said, "When I asked whose source that article came from, it was just said to be from a party leadership official. It's not even clear who made such a statement," emphasizing that nothing has been decided.

The reason, he explained, is that opinions within the party are evenly split between switching to the parallel system and maintaining the mixed-member proportional system. He said, "After the last party meeting, the opinions on parallel versus mixed-member were really balanced. Based on the members who spoke, I can't judge definitively, but it felt almost evenly divided."

However, since pro-Lee factions continue to make remarks suggesting a return to the parallel proportional representation system, controversies around this issue are expected to continue. Today, Kim Young-jin, the Democratic Party's chief of the party leader's political coordination office, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "the regional proportional representation system, dividing the metropolitan area into central and southern regions and allocating proportional representatives by region, is currently the minimum agreement that the ruling and opposition parties can reach."

Senior members of the Democratic Party have criticized the return to the parallel system. Son Hak-kyu, former leader of the Bareunmirae Party, said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that "extreme polarization politics is a presidential two-party system. But in our country, it's even more severe, so to stabilize this, we need a multi-party system," adding, "the foundation for that is the mixed-member proportional representation system."

He continued, "Is Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung changing promises for the country, or is it for himself and not for the party?" and added, "We need to change the political system and create a multi-party system, which I have been emphasizing, but now it's going back to more intense confrontational politics than before. That's why I am furious."

There are also views that reverting to the parallel system will not be easy. Jo Eung-cheon, a Democratic Party lawmaker from the non-Lee faction, said on CBS Radio, "Regardless of faction, 75 lawmakers in the party oppose returning to the parallel system," mentioning that Min Hyung-bae of the Cheonmukhwe faction and himself are among them. "Anyway, this is regardless of faction. With 75 lawmakers saying no, it's not easy for the leader to say, 'No, let's go this way.'"