Ruling Party Election Planning Team "Signature on Waiving Immunity from Arrest Required When Submitting Nomination Documents"

Innovation Committee's 2nd Innovation Plan 'Full Waiver of Immunity from Arrest'
Responded to... Public Office Committee Mid to Late This Month

The People Power Party has decided to require candidates to submit a consent form waiving parliamentary immunity from arrest when applying for nomination in next year's April 10 general election.

On the morning of the 6th, Bae Jun-young, Deputy Head of Strategic Planning and a member of the party's General Election Planning Team, told reporters after a meeting at the National Assembly, "The Innovation Committee responded to the call for relinquishing parliamentary privileges, and we made such a decision today."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, on the 3rd of last month, the party's Innovation Committee proposed its second innovation plan, which included a full waiver of parliamentary immunity from arrest. At that time, the keyword of the Innovation Committee was "sacrifice."

On the 22nd, the General Election Planning Team also announced that it partially accepted the Innovation Committee's proposal to exclude the bottom 20% of incumbent lawmakers from nomination and decided on a stricter evaluation method for incumbent lawmakers beyond that.

Additionally, the General Election Planning Team explained that "the Nomination Management Committee will be launched between mid and late this month." Deputy Head Bae said, "We plan to form the Nomination Management Committee as soon as possible so that our candidates can actively campaign on the ground," adding, "The size of the Nomination Management Committee is stipulated in the party's constitution and regulations, but it will likely consist of about 10 members, with approximately two-thirds being non-incumbents."

This means the committee will be launched earlier than the usual practice of starting around January. Deputy Head Bae said, "The Nomination Management Committee has a schedule spanning weeks 1 to 11. Candidate registration is from March 21 to 22, and the entire process over these 11 weeks must be completed before then," adding, "It has been customary to start after January, but this time we plan to form the committee within December."

Deputy Head Bae stated, "In this election, we intend to send a message that we are focusing on people's livelihoods," and added, "As the ruling party, we plan to approach this election with confidence in what we can practically achieve for the people, while humbly accepting public sentiment."