'Proportional Liberty Korea Party' Mirage?…Election Commission "Approval Status Undecided"

Sim Jae-cheol, floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Liberty Korea Party has decided to name its satellite party exclusively for proportional representation seats as 'Proportional Liberty Korea Party,' but there is a possibility that it may not pass the Central Election Commission's scrutiny. This is due to a provision in the Political Parties Act that requires the party name to be clearly distinguishable from existing party names. Since the establishment of a party named 'Proportional Korea Party' is already underway separately from the Korea Party, if the name 'Proportional Liberty Korea Party' is blocked, it will put the Korea Party in a difficult position.

On the 3rd, a Central Election Commission official said, "In the procedure of reporting the preparation for party establishment, the party name designated by the Korea Party is accepted as is, but during the subsequent registration process, the commission members will judge the appropriateness of the party name."

Article 41 of the Political Parties Act states that "the name (including abbreviation) of a party preparation committee or political party must be clearly distinguishable from the names already used by reported party preparation committees or registered political parties."

A commission official explained, "There are internal standards for allowing party names, but each case is decided by referring to past precedents." The preparation committees for 'Proportional Minjoo Party' and 'Proportional Korea Party,' which are separate from the Democratic Party of Korea, must also undergo the commission's judgment in the future.

The revised election law centers on a 30-seat mixed-member proportional representation system that does not benefit parties with many constituency winners. The Korea Party's strategy is to create an election satellite party for proportional representation seats to secure mixed-member seats and then merge. The key is how easily voters recognize this strategy. Hence, the name includes only 'Proportional' attached to the party name.

Looking at past cases, the party name 'Progressive Party' in 2011 was rejected because of the existing Progressive New Party, and the name 'New Democratic Party' in 2015 was also disallowed as it was not distinguishable from the Democratic Party. Previously, the New Millennium Democratic Party was permitted.

If the 'Proportional Liberty Korea Party' is disallowed, the Korea Party plans to change the name to another. However, since there are already party preparation committees named 'Liberty Democratic Party,' 'Unified Korea Party,' and 'Liberty Party,' it is expected to be difficult to choose a name avoiding these.

The Justice Party, expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the mixed-member proportional system, criticized in a briefing the day before, saying, "Was it ever permissible under South Korea's laws and systems for one party to blatantly lead the establishment of a third satellite party like this?" and added, "The Central Election Commission must never overlook such behavior."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.