Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding an emergency press conference at the National May 18th Democracy Cemetery in Buk-gu, Gwangju on the 5th. Reporter Park Young-cheol skyblue@donga.com
As Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, formalized his plan to create an opposition satellite party under the so-called ‘integrated proportional party’, it is expected that the merger and aggregation led by the two major parties through ‘trick’ satellite parties will begin in earnest, just like in the 21st general election. The People Power Party is already taking steps to create a satellite political party named ‘People’s Future’, and the Democratic Party of Korea is also planning to begin work on creating a satellite political party by declaring on the 5th that it will maintain a semi-linked proportional system. It is expected that the ruling and opposition parties will either withdraw proportional representation candidates or non-running lawmakers and lend them to satellite parties, or use tricks to merge with satellite parties after the election. In the end, it has become inevitable to repeat the sharing of proportional seats between the two major parties and various trick election campaigns to avoid election laws that took place in the last general election over the complicated semi-linked proportional system seat formula that the public is not even aware of.
● Tsuno, hammering out a calculator, concludes the creation of a satellite political party
The ruling and opposition parties passed responsibility to each other for creating satellite parties again for the first time in four years. At a press conference on the 5th, Representative Lee said, “The Democratic Party tried to legislate to ban satellite political parties, but failed due to opposition from the ruling party.” He added, “They attack with a sword, and we cannot fight them with our bare fists.” In response to this, Han Dong-hoon, Chairman of the People Power Party’s Emergency Response Committee, criticized, saying, “I am confused by the semi-mixed proportional representation system, but the people cannot understand it by looking at it,” and “Why should 50 million people have to see the feelings and opinions of this one representative?” did.
Both the ruling and opposition parties blame you, but the political world’s interpretation is that this decision is the result of the two major parties thoroughly pounding the calculator. Unlike the 21st general election, in which the semi-linked distribution method was applied to only 30 of the 47 proportional seats (if the number of seats in the district is not equal to the vote percentage, 50% of the missing seats are filled with proportional representation), the semi-linked distribution method was applied to all 47 seats. Even if it is distributed by , in a situation where the ruling and opposition parties have already decided to launch satellite parties, the advantage or disadvantage of the number of seats is judged to be virtually the same as the ‘parallel election system’. The method of applying the semi-linked system only to 30 seats was only applied temporarily during the general election four years ago, so if the ruling and opposition parties fail to negotiate this time, the semi-linked system will be applied to all 47 seats. In the 21st general election, the Democratic Party and the People Power Party launched satellite parties and won proportional seats of 17 (the Citizens’ Party) and 19 (the Future Korea Party), respectively. The Open Democratic Party, a so-called satellite party of the Democratic Party, took 3 seats, and in the end, only 8 seats went to minority parties, including 5 to the Justice Party and 3 to the People’s Party. Considering that this time, the work to create a satellite political party began earlier than four years ago, it is highly likely that the number of seats that will be taken by the satellite political party that is a trick of the two major parties will increase further.
● Proportional satellite party nomination rights are also shared by the two major parties.
Regarding the satellite political parties that will be created in the future, Representative Lee said, “About half are satellite parties, and about half are coalition platforms with minority parties.” However, he made it clear that the Democratic Party will lead the entire process, including nominations and number allocation. He said, “Because the Democratic Party is the eldest brother with the largest proportion of the pan-opposition progressive reform camp and democratic camp, it has no choice but to take great responsibility and must have corresponding authority.” In the current situation, Rep. Yong Hye-in’s Basic Income Party is likely to be the first to join the opposition proportional satellite party. She indicated that she would not participate in the Green Justice Party, an electoral alliance between the Justice Party and the Green Party, and a satellite party led by the Democratic Party.
On the morning of the 5th, Han Dong-hoon, Chairman of the People Power Party’s Emergency Response Committee, strongly criticized Lee Jae-myung’s announcement of a semi-indexed proportional system by Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung during the Emergency Response Committee meeting and on his way to work, saying, “This is not democracy.” Chairman Han also said on the 5th, “If we fail to judge the election on April 10, the deepening breakdown of democracy will continue, as we will have to continue to look at the opinions of Representative Lee Jae-myung.” 2024.2.5 Reporter Lee Hoon-gu ufo@donga.com
The People Power Party is already working on creating a satellite political party, ‘People’s Future’. It is highly likely that the nomination rights for the People’s Future will be implemented according to the intention of the People Power Party leadership. In particular, among the people recruited by the People Power Party, it is expected that many of those who were thinking of nominating proportional representatives will leave the People Power Party and move to the People’s Future. A key People Power Party official said, “Those recruited by the party’s talent recruitment committee should be given a chance by sending them to the ‘sister party’ (People’s Future).” The People Power Party’s position is that there is no need to engage in a war of nerves over leadership in nominations as it is not seeking solidarity with minority parties.
Accordingly, concerns are growing that this general election, like the 21st general election, will be rife with various campaign tricks. Four years ago, the Democratic Party received a correction order from the National Election Commission for producing twin buses for election campaigns with the same design as the satellite political party, the Citizens’ Party. Won Won-cheol, leader of the Future Korea Party, a satellite party of the United Future Party (predecessor of the People Power Party), participated in a joint campaign with the United Future Party and turned his jumper inside out when it was pointed out that non-candidates or election officials could not wear jumpers with the party name or symbol on them. I also did it.
Reporter Kang Seong-hwi yolo@donga.com
Reporter Kim Jun-il jikim@donga.com
2024-02-05 09:39:00
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