Democratic Party's Bold Generational Change: "Candidacy Invalid for More Than Three Terms in Same District... To Be Enforced from Next General Election"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Democratic Party of Korea announced on the 6th a party reform plan that restricts members of the National Assembly who have served three or more terms from running in the same electoral district starting from the next general election. This is a bold move for a ‘generation change’ among lawmakers, emphasizing party reform under candidate Lee Jae-myung.

In particular, the provision to prohibit more than three consecutive terms in the same district from the next general election is expected to face strong opposition from multi-term lawmakers, making the process quite challenging. This effectively encourages ‘de facto retirement’ for multi-term lawmakers, as about 25%, or 43 out of 169 current Democratic Party lawmakers, have served three or more terms.

The Democratic Party’s Party Innovation Promotion Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on the same day, stating, “If a lawmaker who has been elected three consecutive times in the same district applies as a candidate, the application should be invalidated,” and “We request immediate implementation starting from the 21st National Assembly.”

The Innovation Committee explained, “Those who have served three or more terms now should run in a different district starting from the 22nd general election in 2024.” Jo Yoon-ae, co-chair of the Innovation Committee, said, “The political circle must voluntarily relinquish vested interests and open the way for political newcomers who find it difficult to enter politics.”

Measures to support youth political participation were also announced. The Innovation Committee requested mandatory allocation of 20% of candidates under the age of 39 in the party’s nomination process. Additionally, to ease the financial burden of youth candidates, they proposed amending the party’s constitution and regulations to reduce registration and primary election fees for youth candidates by 50%.

They also proposed revising the Political Funds Act to provide ‘youth recommendation subsidies’ to parties that recommend youth candidates. Parties recommending youth candidates for 20% or more of the total nationwide districts would receive 100% of the youth recommendation subsidy; those recommending between 15% and less than 20% would receive 50%; and those recommending between 10% and less than 15% would receive 30%. Furthermore, they suggested that 40% of the subsidy be distributed according to the number of parliamentary seats per party, 40% according to the proportion of votes received, and 20% according to the proportion of youth candidates per party in electoral districts.

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