Parties Debate Assigning Candidates For Proportional Seats in Assembly

The Constitutional Court's ruling against the proportional representation system has sparked a political debate over revision of the laws governing elections and political parties, particularly over how parties assign their unelected seats in the National Assembly.

"It is inevitable that the laws on elections and political parties be revised as the Constitutional Court has pointed out a problem in the current system of selecting candidates for the proportional seats," said Representative Park Sang-cheon, who heads the ruling Millennium Democratic Party's Political Reform Committee.

"Drawing up the list of candidates must be done according to democratic procedures. Assigning of candidates, if done unilaterally by party leadership will weaken democratic ideas," the court said in its ruling Thursday. "And it would be unrealistic to expect that the parties assign candidates democratically under the current set of laws governing elections and party operations." The court further warned that any complaints filed by political candidates will be found in their favor.

Traditionally top party bosses have experienced little or no opposition when assigning candidates to run for elected seats in the Assembly. Candidates were usually chosen based on their perceived chances of winning the election, and the same bosses have traditionally extended proportional seats to party members who may have been jilted by failing to win candidacy for an elected seat or to wealthy contributors to the party.

"In Germany party members select the proportional representatives by vote," Mr. Park said. "But I wonder if that is possible in our political reality."

The opposition Grand National Party is currently studying the feasibility of dropping the proportional representation system altogether at the national and municipal levels. However, Representative Kang Jae-sup said, the system's advantage in putting women and other under-represented groups in Assembly seats makes completely dropping the system unlikely.

by Kim Chong-hyuk