Roh seeks way to cut party power in Assembly

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Roh seeks way to cut party power in Assembly

President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday said that he would delegate the power to form his cabinet to whichever political party or coalition wins half of the National Assembly seats in next April’s election.
“I ask that you revise the election law so that no one political party can dominate the National Assembly, starting with the next election,” Mr. Roh said in a speech before parliament.
“Politics cannot advance one step if the electoral constituency remains as it is,” the president said, adding that handing over the power to form the cabinet “constitutes half, more than half of presidential powers.”
Blue House sources said that the revision Mr. Roh has in mind is first to draw larger districts that would elect three members each, instead of single-member constituencies. Proportional representation seats would be allocated according to regional electoral districts, not nationwide.
An alternative, studied by the presidential transition team, envisions maintaining the small constituencies, with a regional-based proportional representative system. Voters would cast two votes, one for a candidate and one for a party. Parties would draw up regional lists of candidates for proportional allocation. The scheme would prevent one party from amassing all the seats in an area, but would require the number of proportional seats to be increased.
The president also called for public nomination of election candidates, rather than having them named by party chapter offices.
The opposition Grand National Party, which holds 151 seats in the 273-seat National Assembly, lashed out at Mr. Roh. “It is disappointing to see that they have not given up on the intent to realign political sector in a way that is out of tune with our political reality,” said Park Jong-hee, the opposition spokesman.


by Choi Hoon
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