[Asking Foreign Scholars] "Winner-Takes-All Political Structure... Needs to Change from De Facto Two-Party System to a Practical Multi-Party System"

An Effective Means to Strengthen Representation: Presidential Runoff Voting System
Urgent Need to Reform Political Systems That Fuel Conflict
Joseph Colomer, Georgetown University Professor

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] It has been pointed out that since Korea's winner-takes-all political structure fosters conflict, political system reforms, including electoral system reform, are necessary to resolve political and social polarization. The suggestion is to change the de facto two-party system into a form that allows a multi-party system and to improve the political system so that the president is elected through a runoff vote, ensuring a president with majority support.

Joseph Colomer, a political science professor at Georgetown University in the U.S., said in a written interview with Asia Economy on the 4th, "Some of the institutions that make up Korean democracy have aspects that provoke conflict," adding, "In the current Korean political structure, it is not at all surprising that many citizens feel alienated from the ruling power." He pointed out, "The way two major parties share power between the president and the legislature tends to cause conflict and political polarization."

Professor Colomer noted, "Currently, the majority party in the legislature holds more seats than the votes it received from the people, which is due to the adoption of the single-member district system (electing one candidate with the most votes in each district), resulting in the majority party being overrepresented." He also pointed out that the current president is elected by a simple plurality system, allowing a president to come to power with minority support rather than a majority, which can also generate conflict. Regarding Korea's political system, Professor Colomer said, "Neither the president nor members of the National Assembly can be elected without majority support."

He introduced that "other countries achieve quite satisfactory results through political systems different from Korea's," explaining, "They adopt systems such as proportional representation to enable a multi-party system, where two or more parties form a coalition government to constitute a majority."

He also viewed the runoff voting system as a useful method in presidential elections. Professor Colomer explained, "If there is no candidate with a majority of votes, a runoff vote between the top one or two candidates ensures that a candidate who receives opposition from more than half the voters cannot become president."

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