The Day Before the Plenary Session... Ruling and Opposition Parties Fail to Agree on Electoral Districts

People Power Party Negotiations Break Down Despite Yielding One Proportional Representation Seat
Democratic Party Requests Additional Adjustment for Busan Beyond Four Special Areas
High Likelihood of Electoral District Delimitation Committee Proceeding with Original Plan

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 28th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

With the ruling and opposition parties' negotiations on electoral district delimitation collapsing just one day before the plenary session, it is increasingly likely that the original proposal by the Electoral District Delimitation Committee will be adopted.

On the 28th, Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at a party caucus meeting after negotiations with the Democratic Party, "Our party proposed to concede one proportional representation seat to the Democratic Party to compensate for the loss of one constituency seat in the Jeonbuk region. There is also an adjustment of special constituencies." This was out of concern that if the original plan by the Delimitation Committee proceeds, oversized electoral districts would be created in parts of Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do, undermining residents' representation.

Yoon explained, "It seems that some Democratic Party members expressed dissatisfaction during their caucus meeting the day before," adding, "Although the Democratic Party has taken a somewhat more progressive stance, we continued negotiations on the Political Reform Special Committee last night."

He continued, "The Democratic Party demanded additional adjustments for the Busan region beyond conceding one proportional seat and the agreed four special constituency adjustments," emphasizing, "Simply put, they requested electoral district adjustments to save Democratic Party lawmakers Park Jae-ho and Jeon Jae-soo." He added, "The Democratic Party's additional Busan adjustment demands include splitting the merged Nam-gu into two districts and maintaining the Bukgangseo district as three separate constituencies as decided by the National Election Commission, rather than reverting to the previous arrangement." He said, "The Democratic Party broke off negotiations, stating that if their additional Busan adjustment demands are not met, they will revert to the Delimitation Committee's original plan."

Regarding the Democratic Party's notification that they will not re-vote on the double special prosecutor law on the 29th, Yoon said, "Isn't this going too far? What kind of politics is this?" He claimed, "There has never been a case in the history of the National Assembly where a bill on which the government exercised the right to request reconsideration was delayed for so long." He also said, "It is incomprehensible that the opposing party continues to deceive and break promises over the double special prosecutor vote." The double special prosecutor law introduces special prosecutors to investigate the 'Kim Geon-hee's Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case' and the 'Daejang-dong 5 billion club suspicion case,' respectively.

After the party caucus meeting, Ha Tae-kyung, a People Power Party lawmaker, told reporters, "Voters are confused about which electoral district they belong to and which preliminary candidates are running," adding, "I hope that the electoral district delimitation will be completed tomorrow so that it becomes clear which district they belong to and who the candidates are."

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