Sohn Hak-kyu: "The ruling party is arrogant beyond measure... The presidential system must end"

"Mixed-Member Proportional Representation Is Not Subject to Abolition"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 10th, marking the 33rd anniversary of the June 10 Democratic Uprising, Sohn Hak-kyu, former Standing Election Countermeasures Committee Chairman of the Minsheng Party, criticized the Democratic Party of Korea, saying, "The ruling party is arrogant and has no sense of limits."

On the same day, Sohn wrote on Facebook, "Coalition politics in a multi-party system has already vanished like a distant memory, and the constitutional amendment discussions to abolish the imperial presidency seem to be off the table," adding, "The purpose of the election law revision has disappeared, and the main opposition party is demanding the abolition of the mixed-member proportional representation system."

He emphasized, "Now we must move toward consensual democracy," and stated, "The presidential system must end, and a power structure centered on the legislature must be established."

He continued, "The legislature should form the executive branch and, based on pluralism, various parties should lead national governance through compromise and agreement in the assembly," adding, "This is the content of the constitutional amendment we should pursue. This is the 7th Republic I advocated when I left Gangjin in 2016."

Sohn also said, "We need to prepare for election law reform," explaining, "The mixed-member proportional representation system was initiated by my hunger strike in 2018, but it was significantly weakened during negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, and was completely ruined when the two major parties created satellite proportional representation parties."

He stated, "The mixed-member proportional representation system is not a subject for abolition. It is a foundational work for coalition politics in a multi-party system," and added, "The number of proportional representation members should be greatly increased, and the law should be changed so that parties that do not field a certain scale of district candidates cannot nominate proportional representation candidates."

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