Democrats: "Electoral Districting Plan Is Highly Biased... Does It Only Reflect the Ruling Party's Views?"

The Delimitation Commission Submits Next Year's General Election District Adjustment Plan to the National Assembly
Democrats: "Extremely Ruling Party-Biased... Absolutely Unacceptable"

The Democratic Party of Korea stated on the 5th that the "Electoral District Adjustment Plan" sent to the National Assembly by the Electoral District Delimitation Committee is "a highly (ruling party) biased plan that does not consider regional representation and is absolutely unacceptable."

Cho Jung-sik, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, and Kim Young-bae, opposition party floor leader of the National Assembly's Political Reform Special Committee, held a briefing at the National Assembly in the afternoon and said, "The delimitation plan sent by the Electoral District Delimitation Committee to the National Assembly is a biased plan that lacks the principles and rationality of Article 25 of the Public Official Election Act and reflects only the opinions of the People Power Party. The Democratic Party firmly opposes the unfair and unprincipled delimitation plan of the Electoral District Delimitation Committee and will adjust the delimitation plan in a balanced and rational manner, starting with a broad agreement on the number of electoral districts by region through responsible negotiations between the Political Reform Special Committee and both ruling and opposition parties."

Kim Young-bae, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Delimitation Committee, in next year's general election, the number of electoral districts will decrease by one each in six areas: Nowon in Seoul, Nam-gu in Busan, Bucheon and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam. Conversely, the number of electoral districts will increase by one each in six areas: Buk-gu in Busan, Seo-gu in Incheon, Pyeongtaek, Hanam, Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, and Jeonnam. As a result, one seat each will be reduced in Seoul and Jeonbuk, totaling two seats, while one seat each will be added in Incheon and Gyeonggi regions, totaling two seats. The Democratic Party's position is that this adjustment plan by the Delimitation Committee is a result that does not consider the number of electoral districts relative to the population within administrative districts and does not reflect balanced development or the representation of rural and fishing villages.

After the briefing, Representative Kim Young-bae told reporters, "The most sensitive aspect of electoral district delimitation is that it must have logical rationality, and the setting of relationships between region, population, and rural-urban areas includes very important political implications." He added, "The result can only be seen as excessively biased toward a specific party. It is an astonishing and absurd outcome."

Secretary-General Cho Jung-sik also added, "The announcement by the Electoral District Delimitation Committee is truly absurd and highly biased. We express regret toward the Delimitation Committee, which created and sent the plan unilaterally without properly reflecting the Democratic Party's reasonable opinions."

Cho Jung-sik, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea Photo by Yonhap News

When asked how the Democratic Party would respond to the reduction of one seat in the Honam region, which is strategically important to the party, Representative Kim Young-bae replied, "This is not a problem of Honam or Yeongnam, but the core of the electoral district criteria is population and regional representation." He questioned, "Isn't the political demand to respond to local extinction a national task?" He added, "There must be fairness, but after seeing the results, it was honestly ridiculous."

Secretary-General Cho Jung-sik said, "If Article 25 of the Public Official Election Act is used as the standard and principle, the electoral district delimitation should reflect population criteria and the representation of rural and fishing village areas." He added, "Looking at the current status of electoral districts relative to population, Ansan in Gyeonggi, Nowon and Gangnam in Seoul, and Dalseo in Daegu have fewer seats. Excluding Gangnam, the inclusion of Jeonbuk and Bucheon in Gyeonggi is clearly a delimitation plan biased toward a specific party."

Representative Kim said, "Article 24 of the Public Official Election Act includes a clause for re-examination requests." He stated, "Beyond consultations between the floor leaders of the Political Reform Special Committee of both parties, discussions will proceed on whether to request re-examination through consultations between party leaderships." He added, "I believe that if discussions focus on the standards and principles, rationality, and fairness that have been upheld in constitutional history, an agreement can be reached quickly."

In response to a question about whether the Democratic Party could unilaterally request re-examination if the ruling party opposes it once due to party interests, he said, "A re-examination request requires the agreement of two-thirds of the National Assembly members according to the Public Official Election Act." He added, "It is an issue that requires agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, and I understand that there have been considerable objections within the People Power Party as well. It is necessary to organize internal discussions soon and proceed with negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties immediately."

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