Mixed-Member Proportional Representation: 8 out of 10 Citizens Say "Needs Revision"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A survey found that 8 out of 10 people believe the 'semi-proportional representation system,' introduced for the first time in the 21st general election, should be either supplemented or abolished.

According to Realmeter, which conducted a survey on the 'future handling direction of the semi-proportional representation system' on the 17th at the request of YTN's 'The News,' 44.7% responded that the system should be maintained but improved (supplemented), and 42.5% said it should be abolished, the results announced on the 20th. In contrast, only 5.7% said the current system should be maintained as is.

The response favoring supplementation was relatively high among Honam (64.2%), Seoul (49.1%), people in their 40s (55.7%) and 30s (53.1%), progressives (58.6%), and supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea (61.7%).

The response favoring abolition was higher among Daejeon·Sejong·Chungcheong (64.3%), those aged 60 and above (50.6%), conservatives (61.2%), and supporters of the United Future Party (71.4%).

The semi-proportional representation system was introduced for the first time in this general election with the intention of giving parties that have high proportional representation support but fail to secure many constituency seats more opportunities to gain proportional representation seats. However, the emergence of satellite parties for proportional representation by major parties exploiting loopholes in the system was criticized for rather solidifying the two-party structure.

This survey contacted 7,986 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 500 respondents completing the survey, recording a response rate of 6.3%. The sampling error is ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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