[Exclusive] "Dividing the Pie" Continues in Local Elections... Two-Member Districts Still Make Up Half of Basic Council Seats

Metropolitan Councils Overturn Delimitation Proposals, Resort to "Splitting"

Local Areas Remain Unchanged Despite Push for Multi-Member Districts

Despite efforts to expand multi-member districts in basic local councils, over half of all constituencies for the June 3 local elections have been designated as two-member districts.

On May 14, The Asia Business Daily analyzed the "Ordinances on the Designation of Basic Council Constituencies" and "Delimitation Committee Proposals for Basic Council Constituencies" from 15 metropolitan governments (excluding Sejong and Jeju, which do not have basic local councils), provided by Assemblywoman Im Mi-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea. The analysis revealed that 51.2% of all basic council constituencies have been designated as two-member districts. This represents an improvement of 1.4 percentage points compared to four years ago, when the proportion was 52.6%. Last month, the Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly decided to introduce additional multi-member districts in 27 constituencies through amendments to the Public Official Election Act, which governs the number of basic council members. As a result, the proportion of two-member districts has decreased.

Currently, the delimitation of basic council constituencies is based on the total number of basic council members set by the National Assembly, and a delimitation committee composed of experts prepares the constituency proposal. This proposal is then submitted to the metropolitan council, which finalizes the constituencies through an ordinance. However, the metropolitan council may arbitrarily adjust the constituencies. An analysis of the differences between the committee's proposal and the actual ordinance showed that blatant "splitting" practices were frequently observed. To protect vested interests, multi-member districts were divided into two-member districts, as there were concerns that minor parties or independent candidates might win seats in larger districts.

For example, in Daegu, the delimitation committee's proposal was significantly altered during the city council's ordinance revision process. There were numerous cases where multi-member districts designed to elect four or more representatives were split into two-member districts.

In North Gyeongsang Province, the committee's proposal initially included 10 constituencies in Pohang, but the number increased to 12 after council review. Many of the three-member districts in the committee's proposal were split into two-member districts. In Gangwon Province, the M constituency in Gangneung City, originally a three-member district under the committee's proposal, was divided into two two-member districts. In South Gyeongsang Province, the number of constituencies in Goseong County increased from three to four, resulting in two additional two-member districts.

In Seoul, the delimitation committee proposed merging the five constituencies in Seodaemun District into four, thereby eliminating two-member districts. However, after city council review, the original five constituencies were reinstated, and the two two-member districts remained unchanged.

Assemblywoman Im criticized, "In the case of multi-member districts, there is room for minor parties to enter, but when these are split into two-member districts, in areas where a particular party has over 50% support, candidates from other parties have no chance to win."

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