Pressing lawmakers to follow party lines?

In a meeting with newly-elected lawmakers of the Democratic Party (DP) last week, its leader Lee Jae-myung demanded they follow party lines when enacting proposals. “There were several cases where bills proposed by party consensus didn’t go through due to some members’ vote against them,” he said. “We are constitutionally independent bodies, but we are also members of a political party.”

It is “desirable” for DP members to comply with a decision agreed to by all other members as long as it does not go against their conviction or conscience, he said. He now wields almighty power in the majority party after removing his opponents by not nominating them in the April 10 parliamentary elections. Now Lee wants to tame them by telling them to follow party lines.

The Constitution mandates lawmakers to uphold national interests. The National Assembly Act also stipulates that lawmakers must cast their ballots according to their conscience. Pressing members to go along with their party decisions in lawmaking goes against the Constitution and the National Assembly Act.

Lee attached some conditions — “as long as it does not collide with their conviction and conscience.” But under the current power structure of the DP, Lee’s thoughts are the same as party lines.

The DP under Lee is poised to faithfully follow his command. Rep. Park Chan-dae, a Lee loyalist recently elected as new floor leader, even vowed DP chairmanship of both the legislation and judiciary committee and the steering committees. It was a long tradition that the two major parties share the roles of the house speaker and the chairman of the legislation and judiciary committee, while yielding the chairmanship of the steering committee to the floor leader of the governing party. After winning a supermajority in the last 2020 election, the DP broke the tradition and dominated chairs of all standing committees. The party eased the dominance after losing the by-elections to elect majors of Seoul and Busan in 2021.

The DP’s demand for the chairmanship of the two standing committees translates into an intention to open the legislature whenever it wants, and monopolize the chairs of the two key committees just like it did four years ago. The hard-won momentum of cooperative governance through the first face-to-face meeting between the president and Lee could be wasted. The DP’s election victory does not mean it can domineer over the Assembly. The DP must remember that its unilateral ways after its surprising legislative election victory four years ago had backlashed and ended up in its defeat in the 2022 presidential election. Arrogance can cost votes. The same rule applies to the DP as well as the PPP.