Unelected Lawmakers: Fixing an Unconstitutional System

The members of the National Assembly who were assigned their seats through proportional representation say the most serious problem with the system that gave them access to the legislature is the practice by powerful politicians of giving out seats to their cronies.

In a survey conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo on 36 of the 46 non-elected lawmakers, 11 cited cronyism as the most serious problem facing South Korea's system of proportional representation, while nine pointed to bribery and seven to the practice of using the system as a means of "rescuing" politicians defeated in popular elections.

Of the 273 seats in South Korea's legislature, 46 are reserved for proportional representatives. The 46 seats are allocated in proportion to the total vote among political parties that reach an electoral threshold of either five or more seats or 3 percent of the votes. Political parties draw up lists of candidates prior to elections to fill their share of slots.

Igniting what may be an explosive battle among political parties, the Constitutional Court said on July 19 that the current system of proportional representation based on a one-person, one-vote principle was unconstitutional, because it deprives voters of half their rights when they support a candidate but not a party or vice-versa.

Asked how the system could be improved, all but two survey respondents opposed abolishing the system outright. Twenty-nine said they favored giving two votes to each voter, one for a candidate and the other for a party.

Political analysts and many politicians believe proportional representation increases the chances for women and professionals to serve in the National Assembly.

The proportional bloc members point to that access for professionals as a major strength of the system. With the right committee assignments, they say, proportional representatives can concentrate on issues of national significance without the distractions of constituency work. At the same time, however, they are concerned about the exchange of money and the power-broking involved in allocating proportional seats.

Kim Yoon-whan, head of the Democratic People's Party, was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay 3.5 billion won ($2.7 million) in restitution in February for receiving bribes in return for naming a would-be legislator to a proportional representation seat when he was a senior member of the New Korea Party in 1996. While Mr. Kim argued the money was a routine political donation and was not in return for any particular favor he provided, the court rejected his argument.

Representatives Kim Bang-lim, Cho Jae-whan and Park Yang-soo are among the Millennium Democratic Party lawmakers who got their seats through the proportional representation lists and belong to the party's Donggyo-dong faction, the group most loyal to President Kim Dae-jung. Party insiders say they got their seats because of that loyalty. Representatives Choi Jae-seung and Yoon Chul-sang got their proportional seats as a consolation prize; they gave up their plans to run for the Assembly in single constituencies to allow other members of their party to run, those party sources added.

by Ko Jung-ae