Will Political Reform Bills Pass the Plenary Session? Ruling and Opposition Aim for Approval on the 17th

With the National Assembly plenary session scheduled for the afternoon of April 17, attention is focused on whether political reform bills, such as electoral district redistricting, will pass the threshold of the plenary session. The ruling and opposition parties have reached a broad agreement on the framework of the bills and plan to concentrate on resolving remaining detailed issues, such as the proportion of metropolitan proportional representation, before the plenary session.

At the 3rd plenary session of the March extraordinary session of the National Assembly held on the 31st, the Partial Amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act (alternative) was passed. March 31, 2026 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

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On this day, the ruling and opposition parties will convene the National Assembly plenary session in the afternoon and process political reform bills, including the amendment to the Public Official Election Act, which contains measures such as expanding the medium-sized electoral district system and increasing the proportion of metropolitan proportional representation lawmakers. About 30 non-contentious bills in the fields of energy, economy, and real estate will also be processed, and the political reform bills will be tabled alongside them. To this end, both the Special Committee on Political Reform and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee will be held consecutively before the plenary session to go through the necessary steps for handling the political reform bills.

The ruling and opposition parties are determined to ramp up the pace for final passage, as processing the bills today is inevitable in order to meet the deadline for local electoral district redistricting set by the National Election Commission. Previously, the National Election Commission outlined a detailed schedule: ▲ promulgation of the amended legal bill on the 22nd ▲ submission of local council electoral district plans to city and provincial councils on the 24th ▲ implementation of the revised electoral district ordinances at city and provincial councils on the 1st of next month.

The political reform bills include measures such as expanding the medium-sized electoral district system to local (metropolitan and basic) councils and increasing the proportion of metropolitan council members elected by proportional representation. The ruling and opposition parties have held multiple rounds of negotiations to reach an agreement on the overall framework for processing the bills. Currently, coordination on electoral district redistricting has been virtually completed, and efforts will now focus on finalizing the proportional representation issue before the plenary session.

Suh Iljun, a member of the People Power Party and opposition secretary of the Special Committee on Political Reform, said, "The coordination of the political reform bills is almost complete," adding, "We plan to convene the special committee this afternoon to discuss it." He continued, "Redistricting is 99% complete," and added, "The proportional representation issue will be discussed between the (ruling and opposition) floor leadership." A Democratic Party floor official also conveyed, "Most issues have already been agreed upon."

Meanwhile, as the deadline for passing the bills approaches, the sit-in protest tent of the four reform-progressive parties (the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party), which had been ongoing at the main building of the National Assembly, is expected to come to an end on this day. However, these parties continue to oppose the reform discussions led by the two major parties. In the afternoon, they plan to hold an emergency press conference to denounce the process. Assemblyman Jeong Chun-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party had resigned from the Special Committee on Political Reform on the 14th.

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