The Jeonwon Committee Ended with Only a 'Political Flirt'... When Will the Unified Proposal Come Out?

Kim Jin-pyo "Single plan within this month, electoral district delineation next month"

The plenary committee convened for the first time in 20 years to reform the electoral system concluded on the 13th, but ended up with a 'battle of a hundred schools of thought' style debate without a unified proposal for electoral reform. There are harsh evaluations that it only created a 'political atmosphere.' Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo presented a roadmap to prepare a unified proposal as early as this month and complete the redistricting next month, but there are concerns that it may be difficult to produce a unified proposal as no progress has been made even after the plenary committee.

On the 14th, Speaker Kim said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' "The goal is to gather the various opinions raised in the debate and create a unified proposal on constituency elections and proportional representation as the plenary committee of ruling and opposition lawmakers," adding, "If possible, the unified proposal will be made by April, and at the latest by mid-May." The legal deadline for redistricting, defined as 'one year before the general election,' already passed on the 10th.

On the 13th, a plenary committee meeting was held at the National Assembly for the review of the resolution on the improvement of the electoral system for members of the 405th National Assembly (extraordinary session). Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

During the plenary committee sessions from the 10th to the 13th, various proposals were presented, but there is still no unified proposal. Speaker Kim said, "Although various opinions were expressed, if you gather the common points, broadly divided into constituencies and proportional representation, there are roughly 2 or 3 possible combinations for each," adding, "Based on that, we will work towards convergence, and from now on, it is time for negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties."

However, while the ruling party advocates reducing the number of lawmakers and proportional representation, the opposition party is aiming to maintain or expand the number of lawmakers and increase proportional representation, so it is uncertain whether the gap between the two sides will narrow. It is also pointed out as a problem that the plenary committee was conducted as a 'free-for-all debate' rather than one-on-one discussions, so despite four days of debate, no discussions emerged that could narrow the differences between the two sides.

People Power Party lawmaker Hong Moon-pyo said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal' that "It became too much of a free-for-all debate," adding, "In terms of content, it failed to achieve practical results and ultimately only created a political atmosphere, making it quite difficult to extract substantive content. That is my view." Fellow party member Ahn Cheol-soo also harshly criticized on social media the day before, saying, "There was neither debate nor agreement in the plenary committee. Only disorderly individual opinions of lawmakers were poured out," and "Lawmakers themselves have no expectations, and there is no public support."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The ruling party is struggling with controversies involving senior member Kim Jae-won and declining approval ratings, while the opposition party is distracted by the 'cash envelope scandal' involving former deputy secretary-general Lee Jeong-geun, making it difficult to focus on the long-term task of electoral reform.

This is why voices are emerging that forming a small committee or a consultative body with limited participation is a priority for proper discussions on electoral reform between the two parties. Jeon Jae-soo, opposition party floor leader of the National Assembly's Political Reform Special Committee, said on BBS radio, "It is necessary to properly organize and prune the results of the plenary committee so that the two parties can conduct political negotiations. I proposed to Kim Sang-hoon, the ruling party floor leader of the Political Reform Special Committee, to form a subcommittee," adding, "I hope People Power Party will participate in forming the subcommittee to properly produce results from the plenary committee."

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Byung-wook also said on BBS radio the day before, "It seems difficult to solve this electoral reform issue with the current plenary committee method," adding, "For budgets, there are full meetings, sub-meetings, and smaller meetings. For electoral reform, it might be necessary to create a format where a small number of participants narrow differences through such meetings."

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