'Barunmirae Self-Resignation' Invalid Ruling... What About the Proportional Alliance Party?

Return After General Election 'Expulsion Card' Not Possible
Unified Party Nominees in Dilemma
Minsheng Party Secures Negotiation Group Status

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The court has ruled that the 'self-expulsion of proportional representation members' by the Bareunmirae Party, the predecessor of the Minsaengdang, is invalid. The Seoul Southern District Court accepted Minsaengdang's provisional injunction request to cancel the expulsion against lawmakers Kim Sam-hwa, Kim Jung-ro, Kim Soo-min, Shin Yong-hyun, Lee Dong-seop, Lee Sang-don, Lee Tae-gyu, and Lim Jae-hoon. This ruling fundamentally blocks the self-expulsion method, which was a means for lawmakers participating in the proportional alliance party to return to their original parties, regardless of the Bareunmirae Party's self-expulsion issue, and is expected to cause confusion within the proportional alliance party.

Kim Jeong-hwa, co-representative of Minsaengdang, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 17th, "The proportional alliance party is about returning to one's original party, so this will be a similar case," adding, "I believe the court's ruling came out to prevent such cases in advance."

In fact, the calculations of the parties participating in the proportional alliance party have become complicated. The proportional alliance party assumes that after the general election, members will return to their respective parties. For this, expulsion or party dissolution is essential. However, due to this ruling, the self-expulsion method is practically unusable. Although the party dissolution option remains, in that case, the proportional representation list disappears, making it impossible to succeed to the next candidate's seat if necessary.

Lawmakers who had carried out self-expulsion to maintain their seats are now in a difficult position. Currently, Kim Sam-hwa, Kim Jung-ro, Kim Soo-min, and Lee Dong-seop have received nominations as candidates for the United Future Party in their constituencies, and Shin Yong-hyun is participating in a primary. Lee Tae-gyu has applied for nomination as a proportional representation candidate for the People’s Party. According to Article 47 of the Public Official Election Act, parties can recommend their members as candidates. To receive nominations from parties other than Minsaengdang, they must resign and then rejoin. Naturally, leaving Minsaengdang means losing their seats.

Lawmakers who joined the United Future Party and the People’s Party are expected to leave Minsaengdang soon. Lee Tae-gyu stated in a press release, "I no longer want to be legally or politically linked with old forces and party issues," adding, "I will leave Minsaengdang soon and focus on realizing practical centrist politics and political reform as secretary-general of the People’s Party."

The fortunes of the parties diverged. Ahead of the April 15 general election, Minsaengdang secured the status of a sole negotiation group. Although the possibility of return is slim except for lawmaker Lim Jae-hoon, who was excluded from the United Future Party nomination, and independent lawmaker Lee Sang-don, Minsaengdang is expected to maintain its negotiation group status. Consequently, the election subsidy to be paid to Minsaengdang on the 30th is estimated to increase from about 3 billion KRW to 9 billion KRW. Until now, Minsaengdang had only 18 seats and had been conducting parliamentary activities by forming a joint negotiation group called the 'Democratic Integration Lawmakers' Group' with independent lawmakers. On the other hand, the People’s Party saw its seats decrease from 2 to 1, causing its number in the general election to be pushed back.

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