French-style presidency proves popular option

The French-style dual executive presidential system is the system of government most preferred by Korean people in the event that the Constitution is revised, according to a recent opinion survey.

A nationwide poll of over 2,100 people aged over 19 jointly conducted by local poll taker The Opinion and the JoongAng Ilbo also found that President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rating has climbed above 25 percent after the Chuseok holidays.

To the question regarding the most desirable power structure for a constitutional revision, 39 percent of respondents opted for the French-style dual executive presidential system, in which the president assumes control of national defense and foreign affairs while the prime minister elected from a majority party in parliament takes charge of internal administrative affairs.

Just over 33 percent preferred the parliamentary cabinet system where parliamentary members are entrusted with administrating the cabinet while 24.7 percent preferred the U.S.-style presidential system where the president is given full authority over administrating the cabinet.

President Lee’s approval rating for his state administration skills has risen slightly to 25.4 percent compared to that posted before the Chuseok holidays. Lee’s approval rating had stayed around the lower range of 20 percent in polls conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo earlier in June and July.

Meanwhile, public evaluations of the Lee administration after its inauguration were revealed to be positive compared to those of the previous administration in its early years from 2003 to 2005, but negative compared to those of its predecessor received in the final year of its term, in 2007.

The percentage of people who answered “nothing” when asked what good thing the president has done do far, increased to 68 percent this year from 43 percent last year. People pessimistic about the domestic economy rose from 62 to 74 percent and those who thought the current domestic situation is unstable jumped from 47 to 71 percent.

The survey was first conducted on Aug. 25 to Sept. 7 and then on Sept. 18. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points for the first survey and 3.2 percentage points for the latter.

By Shin Chang-woon JoongAng Ilbo [spark0320@joongang.co.kr]