The Election Commission Bans Proportional Strategic Nomination... Mirae Hangukdang Says "It's Okay"

On the 5th, at the Future Korea Party Central Party Founding Convention held at the National Assembly, Representative Han Seon-gyo, who was elected as the leader, raised both hands high. The Future Korea Party is a satellite party created by the Liberty Korea Party in response to the semi-proportional representation system applied in the April 15 general election. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kim Hye-min] The National Election Commission's ban on 'strategic nomination' in party proportional representation candidate selection has drawn attention to its potential impact on the Future Korea Party, the satellite proportional party of the Liberty Korea Party. This is because the possibility of the Liberty Korea Party exerting influence over nominations through the Future Korea Party, which was launched with only Representative Han Seon-kyo as its leader and without any substantial organization, has been preemptively blocked. The Future Korea Party plans to respond by separately forming a nomination management committee.

On the 6th, the National Election Commission held a plenary meeting at its office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and judged that 'strategic nomination'?where party representatives or supreme council meetings decide proportional representation candidates and their rankings solely based on election strategy?is illegal.

This follows the revision of the Public Official Election Act in December last year. The previous election law only stipulated that party proportional representation candidate nominations must follow democratic procedures, but the revised law requires that when nominating proportional representation candidates, a democratic screening process must be conducted, and candidates must be decided through a democratic voting procedure by an electorate composed of delegates and party members.

Accordingly, the National Election Commission explained that any act of nominating candidates based solely on leadership decisions without fulfilling the two requirements of democratic screening and democratic voting by delegates and party members is illegal. In particular, the commission stated that if parties fail to submit documents proving compliance with these procedures, candidate registrations will be invalidated.

This measure can also be interpreted as targeting the Future Korea Party. The Future Korea Party openly declared itself as a sister party of the Liberty Korea Party and launched without even presenting separate pledges. Recently, the party's staff recruitment announcements were even posted on the Liberty Korea Party's website, showing how closely intertwined the two parties are. Regarding this, Kim Jae-won, chairman of the Policy Committee, appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 6th and said, "Isn't it problematic for one company to temporarily recommend someone to work at another company?" indicating plans to merge after the election.

Consequently, concerns have been raised in political circles that the Liberty Korea Party leadership might exert influence over the Future Korea Party's candidate nomination process. However, the National Election Commission's decision has effectively blocked such 'trickery.' The Future Korea Party has responded that there is no significant problem. Representative Cho Hun-hyun of the Future Korea Party said, "We cannot avoid consulting with the Liberty Korea Party," but added, "However, since the Future Korea Party will also establish a nomination management committee and go through procedures reflecting the opinions of party members and delegates, there will be no disruption due to the commission's decision."

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