Ruling and Opposition Launch 'Jeonggae Special Committee 2+2 Consultative Group'... Begin Negotiations on 'Electoral District Redistricting'

Opposition: "Reducing 2 Seats in Seoul and 1 Seat in Gyeonggi is Reasonable"
Ruling Party: "Discussing Party Advantages and Disadvantages is Not Appropriate"

The ruling and opposition parties launched a consultative body on the 7th to prepare a redistricting plan and electoral system reform to be applied in next year's general election, and began negotiations.

The '2+2 Consultative Body,' composed of the ruling and opposition party secretaries and members of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Political Reform, held its first closed-door meeting for about 50 minutes at the National Assembly that afternoon. At this meeting, the consultative body shared opinions on the future negotiation schedule and methods regarding the redistricting plan submitted to the National Assembly by the National Assembly's Constituency Delimitation Commission on the 5th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The People Power Party insists on processing the redistricting plan as originally proposed, but the Democratic Party of Korea demands a re-delimitation, claiming the plan is 'advantageous to a specific party.' Kim Young-bae, the Democratic Party's secretary of the Special Committee on Political Reform, told reporters after the meeting, "There was an exchange of opinions on the basic evaluation of the redistricting plan, problematic points, and tasks to be resolved," adding, "We will organize the positions of both parties, report to each leadership, and continue discussions once a policy is decided."

He said, "The Democratic Party firmly holds the position that the Bucheon district in Gyeonggi Province was unexpectedly reduced, and that one seat was cut in Jeonbuk Province, which is absolutely unacceptable," adding, "We intend to negotiate with the ruling party to restore these changes." He continued, "Our position is that reducing two seats in Seoul and one seat in Gyeonggi is reasonable," emphasizing, "Incheon and Busan have similar populations but have 14 and 18 seats respectively, so we believe alternatives should be created to ensure fairness in that regard as well."

Kim added, "It would be ideal to meet the preliminary candidate registration deadline on the 12th, but realistically, it is uncertain whether the plenary session can be held before then to approve the re-delimitation plan," and elaborated, "Although we cannot specify a particular date, we agreed to proceed as quickly as possible."

On the other hand, Kim Sang-hoon, the People Power Party's secretary, stated, "Overall, the number of seats in the metropolitan area has increased by one, so it is premature to conclude that the Democratic Party is necessarily disadvantaged." He explained, "It is undesirable to keep discussing the advantages or disadvantages of a specific party regarding the redistricting plan. If so, the entire criteria should be questioned. The upper and lower population limits were measured very reasonably, so we should agree on the redistricting plan based on that."